Congratulations! it's a Doodlebug.

The funniest thing happened! Despite being mostly interested in Burlington Northern I couldn't resist a Bachman/Spectrum "Doodlebug" when I saw it at a very good price. It's a super little model and a nice runner, plus I'd have to pay a whole lot more for an English equivelent model. So I it got home and immediatly went online to see if I could any good pictures of real ones to see what they looked like. I could only find one picture that looked the same as the Bachman model and that was used by the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad. So thought I'd ask you guys. Is the Bachman model accurate or a sort of generic version? If it is accurate was this type used by the Milwaukee Road or the U.S. Army ( the 2 liveries I'm considering)? Can anyone recommend a passenger car model to be used with the Doodlebug? I'd appreciate any comments on these questions and offer many thanks in advance.

Les Pickstock

Reply to
John Pickstock
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John Pickstock wrote:

The real Doodlebugs were built by the Electro Motive Corporation using a "distillate" engine. Never did learn just how a "distillate" engine worked, I'm guessing they were spark ignition engines running on something heavier than gasoline. Real Diesel engines will replace the distillate engines by 1940. EMC will go on to built the first streamliners, the Flying Yankee and the Zypher, on the base mechanism of the Doodlebug, with streamlined bodies and a couple of trailer cars. The Doodlebug had about 250 Hp, the first streamliners had only 600, so they were limited to about 3 lightweight cars. EMC acted as prime contractor, supplying the drive train and doing the sales. The bodies of the Doodlebugs were built by car shops like Brill and Pullman. I'm sure the external appearance varied somewhat over the years. Appearance didn't vary all that much, so unless you made a serious study of old photos, you couldn't really say which version of the Doodle bug is appropriate for which road at which time. The Bachmann model is good enough to run on just about any road that ran doodle bugs. None but the most dedicated student of the prototype (aka rivet counter) would be able to point to some minor detail and say it was or was not used on the such-and-such road at this time or other. As far as trailer cars, the prototype didn't really have enough power to handle more than one, and that in flat country. The photos I've seen had a standard clearstory roof steel coach used as trailer. Electro Motive Corp will become the Electro Motive Division of GM, so the doodle bug is the ancestor of the first E and F units in the late

1930's.

David J. Starr

Reply to
David J. Starr

The Bachmann is an EMC car with a St.Louis Car body built in 1926-28 or so. I don't believe there is any exact match for the particular floorplan Bachmann did.

David Thompson

"The humans founded America, mastered the nuclear forces, and destroyed the original Mars about thirty thousand years ago." "So George Washington was there when they split the atom?" "Could have been."

-from "Triumph of the Terrans", copyright 24L1042

Reply to
James D Thompson

John: I've taken the liberty of forwarding your message to the BN, BNSF and Doodlebug lists in the hope that some on those lists can give further details. There were many manufacturers of doodlebugs with many differences in appearance, not at all requiring a rivet counter to distinguish them. Indeed, at least three books have been written on the subject of doodlebugs, plus innumerable magazine articles. One of the Santa Fe's doodlebugs, in fact, was painted in the warbonnet scheme. The three books on doodlebugs that immediately show up are: Doodlebugs, by John B. McCall, January 2002. ISBN: 0971332010. Publisher: Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society (This is an updated reprint; the earlier edition had become so expensive at used railroad book dealers, at swap meets and railroad shows, and on such places as eBay that it cost $200 or more.) - - - Doodlebug Country: The Rail Motor car on the Class 1 Railroads of the United States, by Edmund Keilty, January 1982. ISBN: 0916374505. Publisher: Interurban Press - - - Short Line Doodlebug, by Edmund Keilty, Mac Sebree (Editor), January 1988. ISBN: 0916374777. Publisher: Pentrex Media Group. +++++ I hope this will give you some help. Incidentallly, the Doodlebugs group on Yahoo! is not particularly active, but the archives give several references as to where on the Internet to find photos posted by list members. Good luck! Wes Leatherock snipped-for-privacy@aol.com snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com On 2003-09-16 16:31:08 PST John Pickstock ( snipped-for-privacy@virgin.net) wrote on rec.models.railroad > The funniest thing happened! > Despite being mostly interested in > Burlington Northern I couldn't > resist a Bachman/Spectrum > "Doodlebug" when I saw it at a > very good price. It's a super little > model and a nice runner, plus I'd > have to pay a whole lot more for an > English equivelent model. >

Reply to
Wesrock

The Bachmann model is a reasonable stand-in for the cars the the SP ran in Houston circa the 20s-30s. The pictures I've seen of the prototype cars are reasonably close.

Reply to
Greg Forestieri

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