Doodlebugorhoodlebugis a nickname in the United States for a type of self-propelledrailcarmost commonly configured to carry both passengers and freight, often dedicated baggage, mail or express, as in acombine.[1]The term has been used interchangeably withjitney.[2][3]The name is said to have derived from the insect-like appearance of the units, as well as the slow speeds at which they would doddle or "doodle" down the tracks.[4]Early models were usually powered by agasolineengine, with either a mechanical drive train or ageneratorprovidingelectricitytotraction motors( "gas-electrics" ). In later years, it was common for doodlebugs to be repowered with a diesel engine.
| "Doodlebug" | |
|---|---|
 East Broad TopNo. M1, a narrow gauge gas-electric doodlebug that was constructed by EBT from a Brill manufactured kit | |
| Manufacturer | Various, includingEMC/Pullman,Brill/Mack,Edwards Rail Car Company,McKeen Motor Car Company,Rio Grande Southern Railroad |
| Specifications | |
| Car body construction | Coach/baggage combine |
| Prime mover(s) | Various (gasoline, diesel) |
| Transmission | Various (mechanical, electric, hydraulic) |
| AAR wheel arrangement | Usually B-2 |
| Track gauge | 4 ft8+1⁄2in(1,435 mm) and3 ft(914 mm) |
Doodlebugs sometimes pulled an unpowered trailer car, but were more often used singly. They were popular with some railroads during the first part of the 20th century to provide passenger and mail service on lightly usedbranch linesat less expense than with a train consisting of alocomotiveandcoacheswith larger crew. Several railroads, mostly small regional and local networks, provided their main passenger services through doodlebugs in a cost-cutting effort.
History
editThe development of gasoline engines led railroads to seek them as higher efficiency alternatives to steam power for low-volume branch line services at the start of the 20th century. TheMcKeen railmotorwas a line of self-propelled gasoline-powered railcars produced between 1905 and 1917. The 200-horsepower (150 kW) engine on the 55-or-70-foot-long (17 or 21 m) units drove only one set of wheels, and the lack of power and traction, the unreliability of their transmissions, and an inability to reverse, were major limitations.[5]General Electric( "GE" ) was the pioneer of gas-electric railcars: GE in February 1906 rebuilt a wood passenger coach into a gas-electric unit which was placed in trial service on the Delaware and Hudson Railroad.[6]TheSt. Louis–San Francisco Railwaywas an early adopter of this technology, placing an initial order for ten gas-electric units in 1910 and seven additional by 1913, giving it the distinction of having the largest fleet of gas-electric motor cars in the country.[6]The petroleum-electric drive control system invented in 1914 byHermann Lemp,an engineer with GE, became the technological foundation of self-propelled gasoline railcars in the 1920s.
In 1923, theElectro-Motive Companybegan production of self-propelledrailcars,subcontracting bodies to theSt. Louis Car Company,prime movers to theWinton Engine Company,and electrical equipment to General Electric. ThePullman Companywas subsequently added as a subcontractor for car bodies.
Improvements to railcars were sought by the Pullman Company, who experimented with lightweight designs in partnership with theFord Motor Companyin 1925. They then enlisted the services of pioneering all-metal aircraft designerWilliam Bushnell Stoutin 1931 to adapt airplane fuselage design concepts to railcars.[7]Also in 1931 theBudd Companyentered into a partnership with the French tire companyMichelinto produce lightweight stainless steelBudd–Michelin railcarsin the US. Those advances in lightweight railcar design were important steps in the development of the lightweight diesel-electricstreamlinersof the 1930s.
Production of self-propelled railcars dropped with the onset of theGreat Depression.However, their low operating costs prompted the construction of theGalloping Gooserailcars built by theRio Grande Southern Railroad(RGS) from usedBuickandPierce-Arrowautomobiles with a custom-built cargo box or flatbed behind the body. The RGS built eight Geese in its own shops between 1931 and 1936, including one for theSan Cristobal Railroad.[8]The RGS did not use the Galloping Goose name until very late in its history, instead referring to the vehicles asmotorsand later asbuses.According to local folklore, the nickname was coined as a reference to the their rocking gait or the goose-like tone of their horns, but rail historian Mallory Hope Ferrell notes that the termgalloping goosehad previously been used to refer to doodlebugs operating on other railroads, notably theNorthern Pacific Railway,in the 1920s.[9]Most of the RGS Geese have been preserved, with several in operating condition.
Factory production of doodlebugs was revived in 1949 with introduction of theBudd Rail Diesel Car.
The variant namehoodlebugwas largely limited to the mid-Atlantic states, particularly Pennsylvania.[10]A hiking trail inIndiana County, Pennsylvania,is named Hoodlebug Trail.[11]
The last remainingAtchison, Topeka and Santa Fe(ATSF) gas-electric doodlebug, M.177, is on display at the City of Los Angeles "Travel Town Museum"inGriffith Park.Two other AT&SF doodlebugs, both converted to diesel-electric locomotion, survive: The M.160 is in the collection of theMuseum of the American RailroadinFrisco, Texas;the M.190 is on public display at Doodlebug Park inBelen, New Mexico,south of Albuquerque.[12]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^American Rails: Doodlebugs
- ^"Kansas Farm Bureau: The Voice of Agriculture".kfb.org.September 12, 2018.
- ^"Remembering the Jitney".sites.rootsweb.April 2000.
- ^"Doodlebugging on the Frisco, Part I."(PDF).All Aboard, The Frisco Railroad Museum, March, 1988 (accessed on CondrenRails ).RetrievedOctober 10,2020.
- ^"Streamliners are loved especially the stunning 1910 McKeen Motor Car".Ian Harvey, TheVintageNews, October 30, 2016. October 30, 2016.RetrievedOctober 12,2020.
- ^ab"Doodlebugging on the Frisco, Part II"(PDF).All Aboard, The Frisco Railroad Museum, April, 1988 (accessed on CondrenRails ).RetrievedOctober 10,2020.
- ^Solomon, Brian (2015).Streamliners: Locomotives and Trains in the Age of Speed and Style.Voyageur Press.pp. 32–33.ISBN9780760347478.
- ^Ferrell 1973,pp. 321–324.
- ^Ferrell 1973,p. 322.
- ^Shawmut Line's Famous Hoodlebug
- ^Parks and Rec: Hoodlebug Trail
- ^"Travel Town Museum".laparks.org.RetrievedAugust 9,2020.
- Dorin, Patrick C. (1972).Chicago and North Western Power.Burbank, California: Superior Publishing. pp. 182, 188.ISBN0-87564-715-4.
Further reading
edit- Ferrell, Mallory Hope (1973).Silver San Juan: The Rio Grande Southern Railroad.Boulder, Colorado: Pruett Press, Inc.ISBN0-87108-057-5.
- Keilty, Edmund (September 1979).Interurbans Without Wires: The Rail Motorcar in the United States.Interurban Press.ISBN978-0-916374-38-9.
- Keilty, Edmund (September 1982).Doodlebug Country: The Rail Motorcar on the Class 1 Railroads of the United States.Interurban Press.ISBN978-0-916374-50-1.
- Keilty, Edmund (December 1988).The Short Line Doodlebug: Galloping Geese and Other Rail Critters.Interurban Press.ISBN978-0-916374-77-8.
- John B. McCall (December 1977). The Doodlebugs. Kachina Press.ISBN978-0-930724-01-6
External links
edit- Doodlebugsat american-rails. Retrieved October 10, 2012
- Doodlebugs in Jacksonville, Florida