Boston, Mass. is sometimes referred to as the Hub, as in "Hub Of The Universe", and for the Boston & Maine Railroad, the city's North Station was almost certainly the hub of its passenger service.

From the mid-1950's to the early 1980s, the image in this photo was the face of the B&M's regional rail service -- a consist of Budd RDCs. The railroad owned 109 RDCs, more than any other company.

After 1959, in fact, the B&M also operated all of its remaining Boston-based intercity trains with RDCs, right up to the end of B&M intercity service in 1965.

The leading RDC-1 wears the interlinked B&M logo introduced during the early 1950s. Most of the fleet wore this up to the commuter operation's takeover by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in the 1980s.

By then, the RDC fleet had been significantly reduced by retirements, rebuilding to unpowered coaches, and sales to other railroads.

MBTA continues to operate regional rail services out of North Station. Since the early 2000s, the agency has shared the terminal's platforms with Amtrak "Downeaster" trains between Boston and Portland, Maine.

Photographed by Thomas McCann, April 27, 1975.
Added to the photo archive by Thomas McCann, June 9, 2010.
Railroad: Boston & Maine.

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