DCC Doodlebug and Coach

[skipgear]

They have arrived at the shop and I brought mine home.

The doodlebug is ok, nothing new, just a rehash of the previous doodlebug with a new motor, DCC, and lighting. The overly complex pivoting rear coupler is gone thank goodness. I'm surprised and disapointed that the oversized steel steps and stirrups were held over from the previous versions, there are much better methods out there to replicate these now. It runs quieter than my original one but it's still not a quiet drive by any shape of the imagination. The lighting is a bit bright and orange for the interior of the car but that should be easy to tone down.

Edit: Found the issue with the drive. The truck gear case sides are held together with four screws. All four were over tightened and caused the idler gears in the truck to bind. I half turn on each and it is 100% smoother and dead quiet now.




The coach is a different story, this is a great piece. It has a lot of firsts for Bachmann (at least in a piece of rolling stock). It has needle point pickup trucks that roll as free as any passenger car I own. The lighting suffers from the same orange lights that the doodlebug has but the match at least. The couplers are mounted on a kinematic coupler box that moves out as the coupler swings to allow for tighter radius opperation. Unfortunately, the couplers are so long that it is not really needed because the car sets a 1/4" from the doodlebug. The roof detail is excellent and beats the the very popular Microtrains Heavyweights. Underframe add on details are nice. Window detail on the lavatory is very well done.  The ride height and general proportions are very good and match up well with other cars out there.



Bachmann would do well to bring out this coach seprately. If they could release it at a $40 or less price point, they would do exceptionally well. If the car doesn't come out, make the parts available for the kitbashers. The 4 wheel trucks and roof alone make many more cars possible by combining parts from the various offerings.

Please offer the coach seprately at a reasonable price!!

[Country Joe]

Thanks for the review Tony.

[brokemoto]

New issue B&O doodlebug with factory trailer coach compared to old issue PRR doodlebug with MP corrugated coach painted to match.





Old issue B&O doodlebug compared to new issue B&O doodlebug:





New issue B&O doodlebug with trailer coach

[Desertdweller]

Nice pictures and reviews, guys.

Skip: Is the trailer coach a model of a car that was specifically designed to be a doodlebug trailer?  Or could it be used as a car that would be proper to run in a conventional train?  I like the idea of a "lightweight-heavyweight", especially now when the selection of heavyweight coaches is so limited.

Les

[skipgear]

Nobody has been able to pin down an exact match for the car. It is a 78' 10 paired window coach. Beyond that, it doesn't have a true match. It is a good filler for a couple close enoughs. It apears to be modeled after a B&O coach similar to the plan that Microtrains released last month.

At least on the B&O, they didn't run trailer coaches behind doodle bugs as a normal thing. Sometimes you would see an express car or another doodle bug used as a trailer. There is one picture of a Doodlebug that matches the style of the Bachmann but no coach. There is photo of another Brill Doodlebug style that is pulling a heavyweight coach out there though..

Doodlebug close to model....
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo6008.jpg

Doodlebug with HW coach....
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo6071.jpg

The Bachmann model is still longer than either of the Doodlebugs in these pictures but I'm not about to worry about shortening it. It looks fine as is.

Here is a shot of the most common B&O Doodelbug, a Brill design.
http://abpr2.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?august11/08-06-11/B_O6033atPhiladelphiaPAScanColl.jpg

[Desertdweller]

Skip,

Thanks.  Apparently, it is a generic design.  I could use a few of these in N scale to round out my secondary passenger trains.

It is interesting to see doodlebugs pulling standard heavyweight cars.  On a previous model railroad, I used an RDC to pull a regular streamlined car.  It wasn't until I visited a railroad museum that had RDC cars that I realized this would have been incorrect.  Sitting in the engineer's seat, I realized the RDC did not have a regular automatic brake system!  The only air brake equipment was the independent brake, the straight air brake system that operates the locomotive brake only.  This would not be a problem if RDC cars were run in multiple unit sets.  They would be subjected to the same air brake test as a light locomotive set.

So, while a doodlebug can haul a regular passenger car or two, an RDC cannot.  Without train air, the RDC-hauled train could never pass an air brake test.

I assume a doodlebug must carry the same air brake equipment as a conventional locomotive.

I hope Bachmann sees fit to sell these trailer cars as individual items.  They would also make good cars to include in steam or early Diesel train sets.

Les

[sd45elect2000]

The Budd cars didn't have traction motors , they had hydraulic transmissions that had limited capacity. Gas electrics had conventional electric traction motors with some additional capacity. In the Budd operators manual it states that pulling cars can damage the unit and certainly void the warrenty.

[brokemoto]

Pulling anything with an RDC voided the warranty.  Budd specifically stated that doing that would void the warranty.

I have never checked this out, but more than one person has told me that M&StL had some problems with its proto-bash RDC-4s because they tried to tow baggage cars with them.  Budd knew this, and still did honour the warranty several times before it finally told the Louie 'no more'.  At that point M&StL sold them to C&O.  As far as I know, C&O ran them together and did not try to tow anything with them.

I have seen a photograph, taken in Kansas, of a CRI&P RDC's towing a smooth side, boat-tailed observation.  CRI&P had converted the observation to a combine, cutting the baggage door into the observation end.  This seems laughable, at first glance, but one should keep in mind that the only end that had a door for passengers, in most cases, at least (and in the case of the car in question) , was the non-observation end.

Classic Trains , in one of its early issues, shows a photograph of CRI&P train #15.  It shows an FM road switcher,  several passenger cars and an RDC-3, in mid-consist .  The article terms the train "a modeller's dream".  When the train reached its terminal in Tejas, only the RDC remained.  I would have to wonder if the railroad had to add pass through steam lines so that the locomotive could heat the cars behind the RDC.  I would have to wonder , also, if the RDC ran in Georgia Overdrive, so that its heater could work.  The photograph was taken when it was cool outside, so I would assume that the heater would have been turned 'ON'.

I do have to wonder if CRI&P made modifiactions to either RDC so that brakes could be actuated.

I have seen a few photographs of B&O doodlebugs' towing baggage cars, but fewer of their towing coaches.  There is a rather well known photograph, taken in Springfield, Illinois, that shows a B&O doodlebug and a trailer baggage car that are doing some street running.  How about a Standard sixty foot baggage car with four wheel trucks from B-mann?

[Desertdweller]

brokemoto,

Thanks for your informative post.  Having spent my railroad career mostly in the West and South, I had no contact with RDC's until I visited the museum.

There really isn't a lot of information about RDC's in the railfan community, and some of it is wrong.  For  example, I sometimes read that the RDC's had roof mounted engines!  I knew they had hydraulic transmissions, but never considered that would limit their pulling ability.

The most recent issue of "Classic Trains" featured Rock Island passenger operations at Kansas City.  It showed a RDC car operated in a passenger train.  The RDC was the rear car, and would be set out at an intermediate station to run independently on a branch line.  I have also seen pictures of a RDC car operated mid-train as a coach.

Both these situations would require that the RDC be equipped with regular trainline air, both so it could pass air tests and so it could transmit the air to following cars.  But it would not require that the RDC be able to control trainline air.  If the RDC was not physically capable of hauling cars, there would be no reason to have that capability.

The RDC then, would only need a small air compressor and reservoir to supply the straight air system onboard.  Each RDC car in a multiple-unit consist would have its own.  These straight air systems would be controlled from the lead car just like in a multiple-unit locomotive consist.

The "baggage/observation" car was also shown.  I think it is pretty funny!  When you think about it, it is just a combine with a streamlined end.  And, like a combine, it would need to be operated at one end of the train or the other.

I'm glad we can discuss this kind of stuff here.  I think it adds to the enjoyment of model railroading to be able to understand actual railroad equipment and operations better, and why things were done the way they were.

Les

[Country Joe]

I picked up a NYC doodlebug at the Amherst show last Saturday. I think it's a nice model. The coach is superb. I hope Bachmann offers them for sale separately.