#2389
Budd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars
🇺🇸 United States ·built by Budd Company· from 1933· rubber-tired rail cars
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Texas and Pacific Silver Slipper at Budd factory 1933: published by the Big Spring Daily Herald· Public domain
what is it?
The Budd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars were built by the Budd Company in the United States between 1931 and 1933 using French firm Michelin's "Micheline" rail car design. Michelin built its first rail car in 1929, and by 1932 had built a fleet of nine cars that all featured innovative and distinctive pneumatic tires. In September 1931, an agreement signed between the two companies allowed Budd to use the new rubber rail tires on its shot-welded, stainless-steel carbodies, and at the same time allowed Michelin to expand into the American market.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 93 years ago, in 1933.
- 42.7 m long: about 9 cars parked nose to tail.
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1933
- status
- retired
- number built
- 1
- kind
- Gasoline-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- Budd Company
- operators
- Texas and Pacific Railway
- top speed
- —
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- length
- 42.7 m
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q23043175, Wikipedia: Budd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.