Train Excursions Returning to Bellefonte After Long-Awaited Railcar Restoration

All aboard! Train rides are returning to Bellefonte after completion of a railcar restoration that’s been a nearly a decade in the making.

The Bellefonte Historical Railroad Society’s Budd Rail Diesel Car (RDC) returned in September and the first excursions will be held Oct. 27-28, the society wrote in a news release on Monday.

BHRS acquired the RDC in 1984 as its first major piece of rolling stock, using it to provide rail excursions. In 2014, it was in need of major mechanical repairs and was sent by truck to Columbia, Pa., for restoration.

What was expected to be an 18-month repair job turned into nine years. New issues, unavailable parts, and accident in the train yard and the COVID-19 pandemic all contributed to the lengthy delay.

After the RDC returned last month, a team of volunteers oversaw mechanical and cosmetic concerns, according to BHRS.

The car will be welcomed back to the Bellefonte Train Station, 320 W. High St., at 3:15 p.m. on Oct. 27.

On Oct. 28, the first excursions on the restored RDC will coincide with the Talleyrand Fall Fest. Trips will be $10 and will run every hour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the approximately 30-minute roundtrips alternating toward Milesburg and Axemann.

On Oct. 29, $20 trips will run every two hours between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The approximately 90-minute roundtrip rides will head toward Dale Summit and back.

Children 2 and younger ride free both days.

Tickets at the train station on the days of the rides. A limited number are available to be purchased in advance online. Any changes will be communicated at bellefontetrain.org or the society’s Facebook page.

The Bellefonte RDC is 70-years-old in 2023. The self-powered rail diesel car was put into service in 1953 as part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.

BHRS thanked a long list of organizations for their support in bringing the RDC and train excursions back to Bellefonte, including PennDOT, the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission, Rail Mechanical Services, Inc, Centre County Women Who Care, Roy Brooks Welding, Wizzards Janitorial Systems, SEDA-COG Joint Rail Society, North Shore Railroad, Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad, Glenn O. Hawbaker, Inc., Confer Trucking, Happy Valley Adventure Bureau and the Bellefonte Intervalley Chamber of Commerce.