# Doodlebug



## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

New addition. 

Bachmann Spectrum. Usually they go for crazy prices. This one slipped under the radar.
















































> While doodlebugs have become endeared by many railfans and historians over the years due to their small size and quaint nature (serving bucolic towns and communities) they actually filled a very important role for the industry.
> 
> Developed during the early 20th century these rail cars, most of which were powered with gasoline engines and not diesels, enabled railroads to reduce operating costs associated with light branch and secondary lines that saw either little passenger and/or freight traffic.
> 
> ...


Above borrowed from here... "Doodlebug" Trains (Cars/Locomotives): Photos & History


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

That looks great Stumpy. It fits right in with your scenery.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Nice...mine has no markings, but is factory painted Pullman green. Watch out for the geared axles, like many Botchmann...er... Bachmann locomotives, they can crack. Otherwise, they are a nice looking, great runner.


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## Jscullans (Jul 8, 2019)

Mine ran good and one day the axles decided to give up the ghost. Good looking models though.


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## afboundguy (Jan 10, 2021)

I picked up one of these for around $50 on ebay and the seller messaged me saying it ran but made a clinking noise so he knocked off $20 so it was about $40 shipped. It's a spectrum and I ran it and the clunking doesn't sound too bad and I just need to take it apart and check under the shell I'm sure it's probably an easy fix... Even if not it's still a cool thing I could just leave on the layout for aesthetics... 

@Stumpy do you plan on adding the rear car? I saw a bunch with a rear car and I am thinking of just throwing a spectrum passenger car on the rear as they look close enough to the pictures I've seen of the set that goes together...


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

Nice find, it looks good on your layout.


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## Jscullans (Jul 8, 2019)

afboundguy said:


> I picked up one of these for around $50 on ebay and the seller messaged me saying it ran but made a clinking noise so he knocked off $20 so it was about $40 shipped. It's a spectrum and I ran it and the clunking doesn't sound too bad and I just need to take it apart and check under the shell I'm sure it's probably an easy fix... Even if not it's still a cool thing I could just leave on the layout for aesthetics...
> 
> @Stumpy do you plan on adding the rear car? I saw a bunch with a rear car and I am thinking of just throwing a spectrum passenger car on the rear as they look close enough to the pictures I've seen of the set that goes together...


Get a new set of axles coming from nwsl at some point. Mine did it from the time I got it brand new from a hobby shop and is now in usable because of the axle gears are broken. That’s the clunking sound.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

I managed to get a junked one for parts to replace my gears. I suspect eventually I'll have to get the NWSL replacement when these eventually fail.


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

afboundguy said:


> @Stumpy do you plan on adding the rear car? I saw a bunch with a rear car and I am thinking of just throwing a spectrum passenger car on the rear as they look close enough to the pictures I've seen of the set that goes together


Probably so.... If I run across one close enough.


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

FWIW the PRR fitted some of their Doodlebugs with windows and controls so they could be operated in reverse without having to turn the unit.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

EMD frowned on using trailers on their Doodlebugs, but few roads obeyed. It wasn't unusual for a passenger car or a couple of freight cars to be pulled by them. They did not have a lot of pulling power.








On my road, we have a daily milk run in the afternoon that interchanges with the Pennsy at the town of Clayton. When milk production is up, the consist is split into single car runs.








Occasionally, my road pulls autumn leaf specials, holiday runs and private parties in a coach found in an abandoned shed (no kidding) after over six years exposed to the weather.








Finally, Pastor Bubba Ray Goodbook of the First Hardshell Baptist Church, owner of the last remaining chapel car in service, has the chapel toted to three different towns in the Whereami Valley for Sunday services. This saves the locals the expense of a church building, giving them the opportunity to fulfill Christ's commission to "go ye therefore into all the world" without the burden of a mortgage. Pastor Bubba can be seen even now, faithfully preaching from the observation deck...


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

shaygetz said:


> Finally, Pastor Bubba Ray Goodbook of the First Hardshell Baptist Church...


Love it!


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## 65steam (Dec 18, 2019)

Nice work, again, Stumpy!

I just added a doodlebug to my layout as well:










My curves are a bit too tight for 80' passenger cars with six-wheeled trucks, but I still wanted to have occasional passenger service. My first solution was to add a 60' Northern Pacific RPO combine car, which I sometimes run instead of a caboose. I like running it, but I wanted to add something more, and a doodlebug seemed like it would be a good, second solution because of the small trucks on which it runs.

I had been looking for a Great Northern doodlebug, but all of the ones I looked at were expensive and/or seemed to have cracked gears. I found this Burlington doodlebug new for $39 plus shipping, so I couldn't resist (it complements my other Burlington equipment).

It was DCC ready, but I chose to remove the control board to fit a speaker and to remove the light strip to upgrade to LED lights, both for the headlamp and for the passenger compartment.










I ordered the decoder from Yankee Dabbler, and they uploaded a custom rail diesel car sound file for me before shipping it (at no additional charge!). I modified and painted some figures to ride in the passenger compartment and then added it to my layout. (The people in the photo are not yet secured, but hopefully you get the idea.)











I still need to weather the exterior. I also plan to do some additional painting on the figures, as the skin tones look too pale when the lights are on inside the passenger compartment. I'm considering adding an led to the front compartment, though I might decide it's more trouble than it's worth.


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

Nice work Steam. The people are a nice touch. I'm stealing that!


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

I loved my DCC Doodle Bug...Missouri Pacific ran one thru my "bucolic" Southern Illinois
home town...I even got to ride it one day...pretty noisy with the engine just forward
of the passenger cabin. Very colorful addition to any layout.
My Spectrum model came with a non powered passenger car that
had 4 wheel trucks. 

Don


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

I installed a decoder in the ALCO PA, put in on the track to test, selected loco 3 and the "bug" (still sitting on the layout from the photo shoot) took off. 😮

A receipt in the box from March 2008 has "Install" hand written beside $8.00. Cool, it already has a decoder.

Bad news: Based on the racket the gears are shot. 

Now I just need to figure out how the shell to get the hell off.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Stumpy said:


> Now I just need to figure out how the shell to get the hell off.


Use about ten toothpicks. Carefully pry down the shell on either side placing a toothpick in the seam about an 1 1/2" apart. Do this til you have five down either side. You should be able to carefully lift it off.


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## Jscullans (Jul 8, 2019)

Nwsl could make a small fortune off of just members on this post from the sounds of it. I think last time I looked they cost $50 for the pair of axles


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

shaygetz said:


> EMD frowned on using trailers on their Doodlebugs, but few roads obeyed. It wasn't unusual for a passenger car or a couple of freight cars to be pulled by them. They did not have a lot of pulling power.
> View attachment 563024
> 
> On my road, we have a daily milk run in the afternoon that interchanges with the Pennsy at the town of Clayton. When milk production is up, the consist is split into single car runs.
> ...


They nearly had to continue that title on the next coach.


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

Jscullans said:


> Nwsl could make a small fortune off of just members on this post from the sounds of it. I think last time I looked they cost $50 for the pair of axles


Yeah. Loco just doubled in value.


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

shaygetz said:


> Use about ten toothpicks. Carefully pry down the shell on either side placing a toothpick in the seam about an 1 1/2" apart. Do this til you have five down either side. You should be able to carefully lift it off.


Done. Thanks.

The racket s'not coming from the front drive truck. H'its coming from the moe-dur.

Since it was purchased in 2008 and the decoder address is still 3... I'm thinking this one is a safe queen.


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## Jscullans (Jul 8, 2019)

Stumpy said:


> Yeah. Loco just doubled in value.


Isn’t that sickening the amount of money they want for 2 axles


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

It is.


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## J.Albert1949 (Feb 3, 2018)

I'd consider one of the Doodlebugs, but they appear to be "single-ended".
I don't have a reversing loop on my layout, so it would have to be a "one-way" train.

Seems to me many of the full-sized self-propelled rail cars (preceding the RDC, of course) were double-ended, so they didn't have to be turned to come back to where they started...


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

In an earlier post on this thread I wrote that the PRR fitted some of their Doodlebugs with windows and controls to eliminate turning them so there is a prototype for you.


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

Tore it completely down. Only thing I didn't do was remove the trucks - drive or tag-along.

Little bit of liquid graphite to the motor shaft and it's pretty much silent. 

At least it has power pickups on the rear trucks. A keep-alive wire, as it were.


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