Roger Williams (train)

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Roger Williams
New Haven #140 Roger Williams at the Danbury Railway Museum
Manufacturer	Budd Company
Constructed	1956
Number built	1 train set
Formation	2 cab cars and 4 intermediate cars
Specifications
Car body construction	Stainless Steel
Prime mover(s)	GM 110, (2 per car)
Power output	550 hp (410 kW) (per car)
Transmission	Hydraulic torque converter
Electric system(s)	600 V DC Third rail
Current collection method	Contact shoe
AAR wheel arrangement	Diesel power: 1A-A1  Electric power: A1-1A
Braking system(s)	Air
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The Roger Williams was a streamlined, six car, lightweight, DMU passenger train, built by the Budd Company in 1956 for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The train was based on Budd's successful RDC DMU cars. The end two cars were equipped with streamlined locomotive style cabs and noses, resembling those on the Fairbanks-Morse P-12-42 Diesel locomotives. The four intermediate cars lacked operating controls and cabs.

For operation into Grand Central Terminal, the cars were each equipped with third-rail shoes, and small traction motors, allowing them to operate into the terminal under electric power, with their engines shut down.

After a short period of time in high speed service, the train was split up, and the cars were used in service with the New Haven's other RDCs. They worked for the New Haven, Penn Central, and Amtrak, until the last cars were retired in the 1980s. In the 1970s, Amtrak used several ex-Roger Williams cars on the New Haven–Boston Bay State.^[1]

The two end cars, and one intermediate car, are preserved in operating condition, by a private owner, at the Danbury Railway Museum in Danbury, Connecticut.

See also[]

• Baldwin RP-210, a lightweight train locomotive built for the New Haven's Dan'l Webster train.
• Fairbanks-Morse P-12-42, a lightweight train locomotive built for the New Haven's John Quincy Adams train.
• EMD LWT12, a lightweight train locomotive built for GM's Aerotrain, and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad's Talgo Jet Rocket train.

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roger Williams.

• Kirkland, John F. (November 1985). The Diesel Builders Volume 1: Fairbanks-Morse and Lima-Hamilton. Interurban Press. ISBN 0-916374-69-6.
• Kirkland, John F. (November 1994). The Diesel Builders Volume 3: Baldwin Locomotive Works. Interurban Press. ISBN 0-916374-93-9.