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Doodlebug (rail car)
Encyclopedia
Railroad car
A railroad car or railway vehicle , also known as a bogie in Indian English, is a vehicle on a rail transport system that is used for the carrying of cargo or passengers. Cars can be coupled together into a train and hauled by one or more locomotives...
(multiple unit
Multiple unit
The term multiple unit or MU is used to describe a self-propelled carriages capable of coupling with other units of the same or similar type and still being controlled from one driving cab. The term is commonly used to denote passenger trainsets consisting of more than one carriage...
). While such a coach typically had a gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
-powered engine that turned a generator
Electrical generator
In electricity generation, an electric generator is a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. A generator forces electric charge to flow through an external electrical circuit. It is analogous to a water pump, which causes water to flow...
which provided electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
to traction motor
Traction motor
Traction motor refers to an electric motor providing the primary rotational torque of a machine, usually for conversion into linear motion ....
s, which turned the axle
Axle
An axle is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to its surroundings, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, bearings or bushings are provided at the mounting points where the axle...
s and wheel
Wheel
A wheel is a device that allows heavy objects to be moved easily through rotating on an axle through its center, facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load, or performing labor in machines. Common examples found in transport applications. A wheel, together with an axle,...
s on the trucks
Bogie
A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...
, versions with mechanical transmission
Transmission (mechanics)
A machine consists of a power source and a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. Merriam-Webster defines transmission as: an assembly of parts including the speed-changing gears and the propeller shaft by which the power is transmitted from an engine to a...
s also existed.
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 used branch lines, obviating the need to operate conventional trains consisting of a locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
and coaches. Several railroads, mostly small regional and local networks, provided their main passenger services through doodlebugs in a cost cutting effort.
History
While interest in self-propelled cars did exist before the late 1910s in the form of the electric trolleyTram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
and streetcar as well as a few other examples, the better portion of doodlebug usage in the United States can be traced to this time period. Electro-Motive, then in the form of the Electro-Motive Corporation as the General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
purchase had not yet occurred, began the large scale production of self- propelled railcar
Railcar
A railcar, in British English and Australian English, is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach , with a driver's cab at one or both ends. Some railways, e.g., the Great Western...
s using bodies manufactured by Pullman
Pullman Company
The Pullman Palace Car Company, founded by George Pullman, manufactured railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the early decades of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Pullman developed the sleeping car which carried his name into the 1980s...
and the St. Louis Car Company
St. Louis Car Company
The St. Louis Car Company was a major United States manufacturer of railroad passenger cars, streetcars, trolleybuses and locomotives that existed from 1887–1973, based in St. Louis, Missouri.-History:...
. By the 1920s the gas-electric car had become one of the main providers of branch-line service.
Origin of term
The term "doodlebugDoodlebug
Doodlebug or doodle bug may refer to:Zoology:* Antlion* Woodlouse* Armadillidiidae, the pill bug family in the woodlouse suborderGround vehicles:* Doodlebug , a self-propelled railroad vehicle...
" is of uncertain origin. Most likely it is used in a number of unrelated ways, often as a nickname applied to diminutive types, such as small airplanes or cars. In the railcar
Railcar
A railcar, in British English and Australian English, is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach , with a driver's cab at one or both ends. Some railways, e.g., the Great Western...
usage of the term it may have been derived from the phrase "doodling through town" that may have been applied to reference the function of the coaches themselves.
See also
- Budd Rail Diesel CarBudd Rail Diesel CarThe Budd Rail Diesel Car, RDC or Buddliner is a self-propelled diesel multiple unit railcar. In the period 1949–62, 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States...
- Doodlebug DisasterDoodlebug DisasterThe Doodlebug Disaster was a railway accident that occurred on July 31, 1940, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio in the United States. A Pennsylvania Railroad, gasoline powered 'Doodlebug' rail-car collided head-on with a freight train, the impact and resulting fire caused the deaths of all but three of the...
- Edwards Rail Car CompanyEdwards Rail Car CompanyEdwards Rail Car Company was located in the small town of Sanford, North Carolina, specializing in the manufacture of self-propelled rail cars.-History:...
- FM OP800FM OP800The OP800 was a lightweight, streamlined railcar built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1939. Fairbanks-Morse supplied the 800 hp, five-cylinder 8 x 10 opposed piston engine prime mover. The units were configured in a highly-unusual 2-A1A wheel arrangement mounted atop a pair of road trucks, and...
- HoodlebugHoodlebugHoodlebug was a nickname used for small passenger trains or trolley cars that provided commuter service in parts of the United States. The name usually applies to such service in rural areas between towns or from towns to factories or mines before the advent of bus service...
- McKeen Motor Car CompanyMcKeen Motor Car CompanyThe McKeen Motor Car Company of Omaha, Nebraska was a builder of internal combustion-engined railroad motor cars , constructing 152 between 1905–1917....
- RailcarRailcarA railcar, in British English and Australian English, is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach , with a driver's cab at one or both ends. Some railways, e.g., the Great Western...
- Steam dummySteam dummyA steam dummy or dummy engine, in the United States of America and Canada, was a steam engine enclosed in a wooden box structure made to resemble a railroad passenger coach....
- SAL 2027SAL 2027Seaboard Air Line 2027 and 2028 were lightweight, streamlined Diesel-electric railcars built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1936. Electromotive Corporation supplied the 600 hp, eight-cylinder Winton Diesel 201-A prime mover and electric transmission components. The units had an B-2 wheel...