Record #:

9175

Author(s):

Dunn, Michael J., III

Abstract:

In the 1920s and 1930s with the introduction of automobiles and buses, the railroad industry came up with the doodlebug to help spur passenger business. Cheap and energy-efficient, travelers and railroad companies embraced the new car. The base of the doodlebug was actually a Model-T Ford on railroad wheels. Streetcars and highway trucks with railroad wheels also functioned as doodlebugs. Several businesses set up in North Carolina to manufacture the cars, including the Edwards Company, which supplied cars to Fort Bragg's railway. By 1950, bigger, sleeker railroad cars were introduced, ending the doodlebug era.

Source:

The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 44 Issue 9, Feb 1977, p14-16, il

Subject(s):

Railroads--History