Budd Company
The Budd Company was a 20th-century metal fabricator, a major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars, airframes, missile and space vehicles, and various defense products.
The company was founded in 1912 in Philadelphia by Edward G. Budd, whose fame came from his development of the first all-steel automobile bodies in 1913, and his company's invention of the "shotweld" technique for joining pieces of stainless steel without damaging its anti-corrosion properties in the 1930s.
The Budd Company became part of Budd Thyssen in 1978, and in 1999 a part of ThyssenKrupp Budd. Body and chassis operations were sold to Martinrea International in 2006. No longer an operating company, Budd filed for bankruptcy in 2014. It currently exists to provide benefits to its retirees.
Automobiles
Edward G. Budd developed the first all-steel automobile bodies. His first major supporters were the Dodge brothers. Following discussions which began in 1913, the brothers purchased from Budd 70,000 all-steel open touring bodies in 1916. They were soon followed by an all-steel Dodge sedan.Budd Company jointly founded, and from 1926 to 1936, held an interest in The Pressed Steel Company of Great Britain Limited, which built bodies for Morris Motors and others, and Ambi-Budd, which supplied Adler, Audi, BMW, NAG and Wanderer; and earned royalties from Bliss. The Budd Company also created the first "safety" two-piece truck wheel, used extensively in World War II, and also built truck cargo bodies for the US military.
Following the introduction of the "unibody" Citroën Traction Avant in 1934 using its technology, Budd developed North America's first mass-produced unibody automobile, the Nash 600. In the mid-1980s, Budd's Plastics Division introduced sheet moulding compound, a reinforced plastic in sheet form, suitable for stamping out body panels in much the same way, and as quickly as sheet metal equivalents are made. The Pontiac Fiero has some exterior SMC body parts manufactured by Budd Plastics – such as quarter panels, roof skin, headlamp covers, and trunk lids.
Railroads
Passenger cars
From the 1930s until 1987, the Budd Company was a leading manufacturer of stainless steel streamlined passenger rolling stock for a number of railroads; many of these were known, at least colloquially, as "silverliners".Early years
After briefly dabbling with French Michelin rubber-tired technology, they built the Pioneer Zephyr for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1934, the first of several integrated streamliner trainsets. The General Pershing Zephyr of 1938 pioneered the use of disc brakes on railroad passenger cars. Budd built thousands of streamlined lightweight stainless steel passenger cars for new trains in the US in the 1930s through the 1980s.In 1949, Budd built ten prototype stainless steel R11 subway cars for the New York City Board of Transportation; these were intended for the Second Avenue Subway.
In the late 1940s, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad sought a way to increase capacity on commuter trains serving Chicago, Illinois, without having to add more cars. Chicago Union Station charged railroads by the length of each train. Budd proposed coaches that were taller than the typical lightweight passenger car while keeping the streamlined car's length of 85 feet but with double the capacity of cars. To address the issue of the conductor collecting tickets without having to climb stairs, the upper level was designed with its center portion open so that the conductor could reach the tickets from upper-level passengers. Rows of individual seats on each side of the car provided the increase in seating capacity.
The unique design of the upper level's open center section led to the cars being called Gallery Cars. Burlington approved the design and ordered 30 cars. These cars, built as Budd lot 9679–041, were delivered between August 1950 and January 1951 and not only marked a change in how the commuters were handled but were the first cars in commuter service to have air conditioning. The Burlington retrofitted its earlier cars with air conditioning once the new cars entered service.
With the first of the new commuter cars in service on the Burlington, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway also approached Budd to improve their rolling stock. In September 1952, the Santa Fe placed an order for two two-level prototypes, Budd's Lot 9679–129. Carrying the numbers 526 and 527, they were delivered in July 1954, at which time both were placed into service for evaluation.
These prototypes had seating on both levels, stairs on one end to provide access to single-level cars, a stairway at the center of the car for access to toilets on the lower level, and a side door for passenger access. The lower floor also contained various mechanical and pneumatic equipment that otherwise would be mounted below the floors of single-level cars.
With the two Hi-Level prototypes in service proving to not only meet the needs of line but also being popular with passengers, the Santa Fe again approached Budd with the idea of building additional two-level cars.
Budd developed another generation of cars for Santa Fe in five different configurations: step-down coaches like the two prototype cars, convertible coaches which could have one end of the car converted from the high level on both ends to a step-down car as needed, coaches with both ends of the car having the end door at the upper level's height to provide access to adjoining passenger cars, and dining and lounge cars with partially glassed-in roofs similar to the Big Dome lounge cars that were also built by Budd and delivered around the time the prototype Hi-Level cars were built.
The order for additional cars was placed in March 1955 for 10 68-seat step-down coaches, 25 72-seat Hi-Level coaches, six 60-seat bar/lounge/news-stand coaches with 26-seat lower-level lounges, and six 80-seat dining cars.
With these cars delivered, the Santa Fe re-equipped the El Capitan, the only coach train operated between Chicago and Los Angeles, and assigned some to the Chicago–Galveston, Texas, Texas Chief line. An additional 12 step-down coaches, numbered 538 to 549, and 12 convertible coaches, numbered 725 to 736, were ordered in November 1962 and delivered between December 1963 and April 1964.
Later years
Budd continued to build gallery passenger cars for Chicago-area commuter service on the Burlington Route, Rock Island, and Milwaukee Road lines during the 1960s and 1970s; most of these cars are still in service on today's Metra routes. The Santa Fe cars were the inspiration for the Amtrak Superliner and Superliner II which ply the rails on many different routes today, though they were not a product of Budd.Stainless steel Budd cars originally built for the Canadian Pacific Railway's 1955 train The Canadian are still in service with Via Rail Canada. Since 1951, two formations of six Budd cars operated by Ferrobaires have run a weekly service called "El Marplatense" from Buenos Aires to the ocean-side city of Mar del Plata in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina; they were originally built for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.
Budd-patented processes and designs were also used in Brazil, France, and Belgium after World War II to construct SNCF electric-powered multiple-unit cars, push-pull suburban trainsets, Wagons-Lits sleeping cars and even SNCF Class CC 40100, a small class of four-current six-axle high speed electric locomotives for Trans Europ Express service between Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam and SNCB class 56 EMU.
In Japan, the Tokyu Car Corporation became the licensee of the Budd process and made stainless steel commuter cars like its Series 7000. Mafersa continued to manufacture cars based on Budd designs, building 38 for Virginia Railway Express between 1990 and 1992, some now at Shore Line East. Canadian Vickers and Avco built cars and incomplete kit shells under Budd license, including the 1980 PATCO Series II cars, Metro-North M-2 Cosmopolitan, and the Arrow II/III/Silverliner IV MUs.
Budd also issued a licence to Australian manufacturer Commonwealth Engineering in Sydney in the late 1950s and 1989 for a variety of projects including the monocoque self steer V set double-decker interurban electric multiple units considered by many to be one of the world's most advanced double-decker designs. Budd's extensive research into the use of stainless steel carries on today in consulting businesses like Bay Rail.
Rail Diesel Car
In 1949, Budd introduced the Rail Diesel Car, a stainless steel self-propelled "train in one car" which expanded rail service on lightly populated railway lines and provided an adaptable car for suburban service. More than 300 RDCs were built, and some are still in service in Canada, the United States, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia. Similar but shorter cars were built under license by Mafersa in Brazil using the Budd Pioneer construction methods first used in 1956 on some of the later commuter cars, such as the Milwaukee Road gallery cars that operated out of Chicago and electric multiple unit high-speed cars that operated between Washington, D.C., and New York City. The final few RDC cars were built by Canadian Car & Foundry under license from Budd.Electric multiple units
In the late 1950s, Budd built the prototype Pioneer III. When re-designed and outfitted with electrical propulsion and end cabs as EMU coaches, six were purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad for medium-distance use in its electrified territory. In 1963, they became known as Silverliner I cars when their use was supplemented by the Silverliner II, which used an improved Pioneer III body. They were placed into Philadelphia-area commuter rail service on the PRR and Reading Company lines.Budd was contracted in 1966 by the PRR and the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of High-Speed Ground Transportation to build the original Metroliner multiple unit cars for luxury high-speed service on the Northeast Corridor. The 50 original cars were delivered in 1967–69. An additional 11 coaches were built for SEPTA but were not put into service until 1972 by Amtrak. The Metroliners have been either retired, rebuilt into coaches without the cabs, or de-powered and used as cab cars.
The Silverliner II had a top speed of but ran at up to when the PRR used them on its Philadelphia-Harrisburg service. The Metroliner EMU cars operated at 110 to, but every car was tested to at least, although breakdowns in the system led Amtrak to derate them to. Since their retirement from regular service, Amtrak has used them as cab-coaches.