Hello,
I am wondering, does anyone know the years that doodlebugs were used on the PRR
Thank you in advance
They were used up through the 1960’s when replaced by Budd RDC (rail diesel car) units.
Not on the PRR. They never owned a Budd car. PRSL was heavy into Budd cars - all RDC-1’s - and they ran there but as far as I can recall the Demonstrator never even saw PRR rails except to get to another railroad.
According to Edmund Keilty’s book, “Doodelbug Counttry,” the Pennsylvania RR experimented with Brill and McKeen gas cars as early as 1909-1910. However, between 1921 and 1930 is when the PRR acquired a sizable fleet of conventional gas-electric “doodlebugs.” Most were built by Brill, but a few were EMC-Pullman cars. They were mostly phased out of operation in the 1940s and '50s, but one run, between Camden and Trenton, N.J., continued into 1962. Many of the PRR gas-electrics were converted to tower cars for work on electrified lines after being retired from passenger service.
So long,
Andy