View source for Budd SPV-2000

{{Short description|Self-propelled diesel multiple unit railcar}}
{{Infobox train
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| name = SPV-2000
| image = MNRR 293 at Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum, June 2017.JPG
| imagealt = A silver railroad coach on a siding
| caption = SPV-2000 {{Abbr|No.|Number}} 293, formerly of [[Metro-North Railroad]], preserved at the [[Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum]]
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| manufacturer = [[Budd Company]]
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| yearconstruction = 1978–1981
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| numberbuilt = 31 (plus 14 unassembled shells)
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| capacity = 86–109
| operator = [[Federal Railroad Administration]]<br />[[ONCF]]<br />[[Connecticut Department of Transportation|CDOT]]/[[Amtrak]]<br />[[Metropolitan Transportation Authority|MTA]]/[[Metro-North]]<br />[[Caltrain]] (used as inspection cars)
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| carlength = {{convert|85|ft|4|in|m}}
| width = {{convert|10|ft|6|in|m}}
| height = {{convert|14|ft|6|in|m}}
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| maxspeed = {{convert|80|to|120|mph}}
| weight = {{convert|127000|lb}}
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| gauge = {{track gauge|ussg|allk=on}}
| notes = <ref name="brochure">{{cite web | title=Brochure | author=TransitAmerica | author-link=Budd Company | year=1985 | url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/etmccaus/6791332290/ | page=20 | access-date=2014-05-26}}</ref>
}}
The '''Budd SPV-2000''' is a self-propelled [[diesel multiple unit]] [[railcar]] built by the [[Budd Company]] between 1978 and 1981 for use on [[Commuter rail in North America|North American commuter railroads]]. The design was a successor to Budd's popular [[Budd Rail Diesel Car|Rail Diesel Car]] (RDC) but based on the body of the [[Amfleet]] passenger car. It did not prove a success: Budd built 31 cars and they proved mechanically unreliable.

== Design ==
[[File:SPV-2000 demonstrator at Reading, 1978.jpg|thumb|left|An SPV-2000 demonstrator being tested on the [[MBTA]] in 1978]]
Budd announced the design in 1976. At the time it contemplated multiple unit operation of up to six cars with a top speed of {{convert|120|mph}}. Power would be provided by {{convert|360|hp}} [[General Motors]] [[diesel engine]]s. ''[[Popular Science]]'' depicted a tapered cab similar to the power car of the [[Advanced Passenger Train]]; the SPV-2000 would enter service with a more traditional blunt-end operator's cab.<ref name="ps111976">{{cite journal | title=What's New | journal=[[Popular Science]] |date=November 1976 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GgEAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA96 | page=96}}</ref> Budd said that SPV stood for "Special Purpose Vehicle" (Self-Propelled Vehicle became common), and emphasized the design's suitability for both intercity and commuter rail service.<ref name="csgt12111977">{{cite news | title=Budd Company Survives Slumping Railroad Passenger Car Industry | newspaper=[[The Gazette (Colorado Springs)|Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph]] | date=December 11, 1977 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/63503632/}}</ref>

The body shell of the SPV-2000 was very similar to the [[Amfleet]] passenger coach, which in turn was based on the [[Budd Metroliner|Metroliner]] [[electric multiple unit]]. The SPV-2000 featured operator cabs at both ends and (in the standard configuration) 86 seats in 22 rows. There was an [[Accessibility|accessible]] [[toilet]] at one end and a small space to store [[luggage]] at the other.<ref name="brochure" /> [[Metropolitan Transportation Authority]] (MTA) cars could seat 109.<ref name="nyt19811018" />

== Operators ==
[[File:Budd SPV2000 Shells Wilmington DE.jpg|thumb|right|Incomplete SPV-2000 shells stored in Wilmington, Delaware]]
Budd unveiled the first SPV-2000 in Philadelphia on February 9, 1978, and then sent it on a demonstration tour around the United States.<ref>{{harvnb|Crouse|1990|p=141}}</ref> Budd eventually sold SPV-2000s to four customers: the [[Federal Railroad Administration]] (FRA), [[ONCF]] ([[Morocco]] state railways), the [[Connecticut Department of Transportation]] (ConnDOT), and the [[Metropolitan Transportation Authority]] (MTA).<ref name="brochure" /> In 1978 Los Angeles County Supervisor [[Baxter Ward]] proposed using SPV-2000s on the former [[Pacific Electric]] line to [[Long Beach, California]], but nothing came of this proposal.<ref name="pn197806">{{cite magazine | url=http://original.trainlife.com/magazines/pages/741/49134/june-1978-page-4 | title=Another Area Transit Proposal for California | magazine=[[Pacific RailNews|Pacific News]] |date=June 1978  | volume=18 | issue=6 | page=4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214101335/https://original.trainlife.com/magazines/pages/741/49134/june-1978-page-4 |archive-date=February 14, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The SPV-2000s were considered for a resumption of [[Cape Cod]] rail service via [[Braintree, Massachusetts]] and an SPV-2000 made a demonstration run in August 1979, but nothing came of this either.<ref>{{Harvnb|Eldredge|2003|p=109}}</ref> Beyond the 30 cars it sold, Budd constructed the demonstrator and 14 incomplete shells.<ref name="crouse146" /> In the early 1990s the North American Carriages Company proposed to complete some of these shells as standard passenger cars for use in a new service between [[San Antonio, Texas]] and [[Monterrey|Monterrey, Nuevo León]], to be called the ''Royal Eagle'', but nothing came of the proposal.<ref>{{Harvnb|TxDOT|1992|p=11}}</ref>

=== FRA ===
The Federal Railroad Administration purchased a single SPV-2000 in 1981 and converted it into a [[track geometry car]] which it designated '''T-10'''. The T-10 remained in service with the FRA until 2000 when it was replaced by newer equipment.<ref>{{Harvnb|Solomon|2001|pp=35–36}}</ref> It was then sold to [[Caltrain]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Solomon|2012|p=283}}</ref>

=== ONCF ===
Budd sold six SPV-2000s to [[ONCF]] (the Moroccan state railways) for use on [[Hassan II of Morocco|King Hassan II's]] [[royal train]].<ref name="brochure" /><ref name="csgt12111977" /> Under [[Mohammed VI of Morocco|King Mohammed VI]], Hassan II's successor, the train has fallen into disuse.<ref name="boudarham">{{cite journal | last=Boudarham | first=Mohammed | title=Nostalgie. La fabuleuse histoire du train royal | date=April 10, 2009 | journal=[[TelQuel]] | url=http://www.telquel-online.com/archives/367/couverture_367.shtml | language=fr | access-date=May 26, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723224751/http://www.telquel-online.com/archives/367/couverture_367.shtml | archive-date=July 23, 2013 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== ConnDOT ===
[[File:Waterbury Branch train with Constitution Liners in Seymour, March 2006.jpg|thumb|left|[[Waterbury Branch]] train with Constitution Liner coaches in 2006]]
The Connecticut Department of Transportation purchased 13 SPV-2000s at roughly $1&nbsp;million apiece in 1980 (equivalent to ${{format price|{{inflation|US|1000000|1980}} }} in {{inflation year|US}} adjusted for inflation); 12 for use on the [[New Haven–Springfield Line]] and one for commuter service on the [[Danbury Branch]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/20/nyregion/senator-baker-appears-in-hartford-for-weicker-and-state-republicans.html |title=SENATOR BAKER APPEARS IN HARTFORD FOR WEICKER AND STATE REPUBLICANS |first=Richard L. |last=Madden |newspaper=The New York Times |date=20 October 1982}}</ref> The New Haven–Springfield Line cars were leased to [[Amtrak]] (numbered 988–999) and painted in Amtrak's [[Amtrak paint schemes|Phase III livery]]. The cars were designed to be interoperable with Amfleet cars; for a brief period, Springfield shuttles were coupled to the rear of Boston trains at New Haven to provide through service to Washington, D.C.<ref name="solomon">{{Solomon-Amtrak|page=154}}</ref>

The cars proved mechanically unreliable and were often pulled by locomotives, leading to the derisive sobriquet "Seldom Powered Vehicles". Amtrak withdrew them on January 12, 1986 and placed conventional locomotive-hauled [[Amfleet]] trains on the route. The cars saw some use on the [[Metro-North Railroad]]; most were stored in New Haven. In 1994, the remaining 11 were de-powered and converted to coaches for use on [[Shore Line East]] commuter service.<ref name="crouse146">{{Harvnb|Crouse|1990|p=146}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Simon|Warner|2011|p=89}}</ref> Dubbed "Constitution Liners", they were the primary coaches for Shore Line East until replaced by [[Mafersa coaches]] in 2004.<ref name="trains">{{cite journal | title=Shore Line East | journal=[[Trains (magazine)|Trains]] | url=http://trn.trains.com/en/Railroad%20Reference/Passenger%20Trains/2006/07/Shore%20Line%20East.aspx | date=July 5, 2006 | access-date=May 26, 2014}}</ref> In 2018, seven of the former ConnDOT cars were sold to the Foxville and Northern Railroad (later Atlantic Railways).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fnrail.com/passenger-equipment |title=Passenger Equipment |publisher=Foxville and Northern Railroad}}</ref><!-- some others went to [[Grapevine Vintage Railroad]], but that needs a citation-->

=== MTA ===
The MTA purchased ten SPV-2000s for use on its [[Hudson Line (Metro-North)|Hudson Line]] between [[Croton–Harmon (Metro-North station)|Croton–Harmon]] and [[Poughkeepsie (Metro-North station)|Poughkeepsie]]. The order cost $12 million. The SPV-2000s made their first runs on October 17, 1981. This run was coordinated with the re-opening of the [[New Hamburg (Metro-North station)|New Hamburg]] station.<ref name="nyt19811018">{{cite news | title=William E. Sauro New Cars for Hudson Line Commuters | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=October 18, 1981 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/18/nyregion/william-e-sauro-new-cars-for-hudson-line-commuters.html}}</ref> Problems with the SPV-2000s developed quickly, and a 1982 ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine article characterized the cars as "defective".<ref name="klein">{{cite journal | last=Klein | first=Joe | title=The Woman Who Would Be Mayor | date=March 8, 1982 | journal=New York | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qecCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA29 | page=29}}</ref> The MTA SPV-2000s are all out of service; one is preserved at the [[Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum]] in [[Willimantic, Connecticut]].<ref name="cterm">{{cite web | url=http://www.cteastrrmuseum.org/spv.htm | title=SPV 2000 | author=Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum | access-date=May 26, 2014}}</ref>

Five ex-MTA cars began usage as coaches on the [[Tren Interoceánico]] in Mexico in 2023.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.jornada.com.mx/2023/12/23/politica/005n1pol |title=Emociones y recuerdos entre los mayores al paso del convoy |language=es-mx |trans-title=Emotions and memories among the elderly as the convoy passes |date=December 2023 |newspaper=La Jornada |first=Emir |last=Olivares Alonso |access-date=March 28, 2025}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{portal|Trains|Railways}}
* South Australian State Transport Authority [[2000 class railcar]]
{{clear}}

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
* {{cite book | last=Crouse|first=Chuck|title=Budd Car, the RDC Story|year=1990|publisher=Weekend Chief Publishing|location=Mineola, NY|isbn= 0-9612814-2-1}}
* {{cite book | last=Eldredge | first=Andrew T. | title=Railroads of Cape Cod and the Islands | series=Images of Rail | publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]] | location=Charleston, SC | year=2003 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z-h7L2onwEwC&pg=PA109 | isbn=0738511579 | oclc=53277772 }}
* {{Amtrak By the Numbers}}
* {{cite book | last=Solomon | first=Brian | title=North American Locomotives: A Railroad-by-Railroad Photohistory | year=2012 | publisher=[[Voyageur Press]] | location=Minneapolis, MN | isbn=9780760343708 | oclc=781679692 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OqNS-d9V_j8C&pg=PA283 }}
* {{cite book | last=Solomon | first=Brian | title=Railway maintenance equipment | publisher=MBI | location=Osceola, WI | year=2001 | isbn=0760309752 | oclc=46976669 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6zB-co8PLiYC }}
* {{cite book | author=Texas Department of Transportation | author-link=Texas Department of Transportation | title=Designation of the San Antonio – Laredo – Monterrey, Mexico High Speed Rail Corridor | date=1992 | url=http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/digitized/texasarchive/MS4622.pdf | ref={{Harvid|TxDOT|1992}} }}
* {{cite magazine|last=Sperandeo|first=Andy|title=Budd's SPV-2000|magazine=Model Railroader|date=May 1981|issue=5|volume=48|publisher=Kalmbach Publishing Co.|location=Milwaukee, WI|pp=72–77}}

== External links ==
{{commons category|Budd SPV-2000 cars}}
* [http://www.cteastrrmuseum.org/spv.htm Preserved SPV-2000 at the Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum]

{{Budd Company}}
{{LIRR and MNCR rolling stock}}
{{Tren Interoceánico}}

[[Category:Budd multiple units]]
[[Category:Railcars of the United States]]
[[Category:Rolling stock of Mexico]]
[[Category:Train-related introductions in 1978]]