CB&Q 9735

Gas-Electric "Doodle Bug"

CB&Q 9735 was a survivor among Gas-Electric "Doodle Bugs," remaining in service until 1967. That it is still intact today is remarkable.

The "Doodle Bug" was an early solution to a thorny problem. The railroads were legally required to provide passenger, mail, and express service, but on low-traffic branch lines using a steam locomotive and regular heavy-weight equipment was a money losing proposition. The invention of gasoline internal-combustion engines prompted many inventors to try creating self-propelled passenger cars. Around 1924 an entrepreneur named H. L. Hamilton founded the Electro-Motive Corporation to produce self-propelled cars. EMC designs featured a body based on standard passenger cars, an electric transmission derived from proven streetcar technology, and a relatively powerful gasoline engine. These fortunate design choices worked well, and EMC sold many examples. Regular buyers from Minnesota included the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy, the Minneapolis & St. Louis, and the Northern Pacific.

EMC's Doodle Bugs were the beginning of something big. Their success in this small market attracted the attentions of General Motors, and as GM's Electro-Motive Division they went on to become the number one diesel locomotive builder for over four decades. The CB&Q was instrumental in their success. In 1935, they ordered a custom-designed self-propelled passenger car. It was made of stainless steel (a recent invention,) composed of three permanently coupled units, and named the Zephyr. For all intents and purposes, it was merely an enlarged, dressed-up Doodle Bug, yet it sparked a revolution in rail passenger travel. The Burlington's Zephyr was the first of the new streamliners - for which EMD usually supplied the muscle.

CB&Q 9735 was built in 1929 by Pullman and EMC. Its original number was 735. Pullman fabricated the carbody, giving it their builder's number 6203. EMC added the electrical and mechanical components and affixed their builder's number 343. Its original gasoline engine was probably rated at 275 h.p. In CB&Q fashion, it was painted Pullman Green except for the cab, which was bright red with three horizontal yellow bands, one at frame level, one below the windows, and one above. One neat feature of most Doodle Bugs is they often had a steam locomotive-style headlight and marker lights. In 1949, 9735 was upgraded to a 400 h.p. Lima-Hamilton diesel engine. Sometime after June 1952, the boxy radiator over the cab was replaced by a smooth hump in the roof. Most of the 50's and 60's it spent in Illinois towns like Galesburg, Bushnell, and McComb. Although many Doodle Bugs had passenger seating, 9735 never did - its interior is entirely devoted to baggage and mail. Photos of other Doodle Bugs show them pulling standard coaches for extra capacity. CB&Q Doodle Bugs have also been photographed puling short freight trains and pushing wedge plows to clear snow drifts. 9735 was retired in 1967 - the last operating CB&Q Doodle Bug - and sold to Southern Industrial in June of 1969.

The Transportation Act of 1958 limited the power states had to regulate rail passenger service. As a result, railroads were able to cancel the branch line passenger trains. No longer needed, within five years most Doodle Bugs found second careers as unpowered passenger cars, on foundations as buildings, or were cut up for scrap. 9735 was indeed fortunate to remain intact.

9735 was acquired by the Minnesota Transportation Museum in 1984.

View a CB&Q 9735 blueprint reproduced from "The Burlington in Transition" by Corbin and Hardy. (109k)

Sources:

1. "Burlington Route Color Pictorial, Volume 1," by Alfred J. J. Holck; photo p44, data p44-48.
2. "Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy In Color, Volume 1," by Michael J. Spoor; photo and data p85.
3. "Northern Pacific Classic Steam Era," by Larry P. Schrenk and Robert L. Frey; data p259 and 274.
4. "The Burlington in Transition," by Bernard G. Corbin and Joseph C. Hardy; photos, data p117 & 129.