Doors on Lionel RDC1

Hi Bruce,

A little late to the conversation, but yes, it makes me crazy! Whoever designed it was totally confused. Don't know how they got it right on the RDC-4. When closed, the curved handrail would be on the underside of the floor section which folded down above the steps! When open, it would be against inner the vestibule wall (abutting the passenger section). I'm sure yours looks much better with plain doors. -- This is one of the reasons that my chosen tinplate RDCs are the old AMT/KMT models from the 50s. I also model the B&M, so the plain ends (versus the MTH fluted ends) are right. And the AMT/KMTs have correct looking trucks and proper plain doors. The downside, of course, is that you have a hard time finding them, but so far I've got two powered ones, acquired on eBay (one even runs! although it clearly needs cleaning and lubrication) and two spare shells. Unfortunately they only came as an RDC-1, while the B&M had 1's, 2's, and 3's. So my long-term goal (IF I ever manage to retire) is to kitbash a 2 and a 3, add some handrails and things, and letter them for the B&M. (May have to go wild and get custom decals for the old Minuteman heralds...)  I know the kitbash is possible, because I once saw the beast below on eBay -- some inspired lunatic not only made an RDC-3, but he spliced two cars together to make it full length! With O-36 curves, I'm not going there, but it is good to see someone has already done what I want to, in adding the baggage and RPO compartments. -- If you see this, would love to see pics of your remodeled Lionel.

I love the RDCs -- grew up in Wayland in the 1960s, on the B&M's Central Mass, and for me "passenger train" meant "RDC", they were all the B&M had in those days. My dad rode them to work in Boston for years.

3rd Rail only made 1's and 2's, so l have accumulated Lionel power and shells to do exactly that above, scale length, but it sounds like there is a problem with the doors.  I want a 3...l see somebody worked to get one.

colorado hirailer posted:

3rd Rail only made 1's and 2's, so l have accumulated Lionel power and shells to do exactly that above, scale length, but it sounds like there is a problem with the doors.  I want a 3...l see somebody worked to get one.

Best wishes on your kitbashing. You'll probably get there before I do -- be sure to post photos! But yes, the doors should be plain, as in the photo above. If you're already doing all that cutting and splicing, changing out the doors shouldn't add too much work. Here's a pic of a prototype door in the open position, showing the bit that Lionel mistakenly put on the outside. From where it is in the photo, it folds *down* to become part of the vestibule's floor, *before* the door (behind it in the photo) swings closed. The section with the handrail isn't on the outside of the door. Lionel's designers must have looked at a photo like this, of the open vestibule, and misunderstood what they were seeing.

It is odd that Lionel chose to make the RDC-4 (I believe only 14 prototype units were ever built, owned by a small handful of railroads) rather than the more widely used RDC-2 or RDC-3.

Jeff Plate posted:

It is odd that Lionel chose to make the RDC-4 (I believe only 14 prototype units were ever built, owned by a small handful of railroads) rather than the more widely used RDC-2 or RDC-3.

Probably the rights to the design were easier and cheaper to obtain.