Nostalgia & History > Time for a Santa Fe "Doodlebug" Break!

Found these pictures at my local hobby shop last week. I am not familiar with the Santa Fe's Doodlebug fleet, so would appreciate any information anyone could share.

1. ATSF M176 at Ottawa Ks. in October 1951.

2. Roster shot of M176

3. M176 rear view.

Yardclerk

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Here is ATSF M131 at Topeks Ks. in 1953.

Yardclerk

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Not Topeka. Looks like Emporia.

Nice stuff.

Bob

As a boy growing up in California's San Joaquin Valley during the 1940s, my greatest joy was riding the AT&SF Doodle Bug, AKA "The Skunk" between Cutler and Visalia. The Skunk ran one round trip daily between Fresno and Tulare. The fare? A whopping 50 cents. The unmistakeably distinctive horn was a local reminder of the service and clocks could be set by it with confidence. This nostalgic factoid didn't address your question, but gave me an opportunity to relive wonderful memories. Thanks for making my day.

Here in Kansas the only one I recall seeing on the AT&SF as a youngster was in Southern Kansas on the branchline running from Mulvane (south of Wichita) westward to Englewood. This ran through farm country and range land near Belvidere and Coats Kansas. My aunt and uncle lived on a farm that was bout 1/3 mile from the track and on a Sunday afternoon my cousins and I could hear the horn as this eastbound unit approached the crossing. Sometimes they would have a combination pass-baggage car attached to the rear.

Another one ran on the original AT&SF line from Hutchinson to Great Bend to Kinsley where it turned for a return trip, but I never saw this unit operate.

Has anyone taken any images of the unit being moved from the SCRM in California to Belen, NM? I've heard talk of it on TO's but no photos.

yardclerk Wrote:

> Found these pictures at my local hobby shop last
> week. I am not familiar with the Santa Fe's
> Doodlebug fleet, so would appreciate any
> information anyone could share.
>
> 1. ATSF M176 at Ottawa Ks. in October 1951.

M.131 and M.176 were part of an order for 21 EMC model 148 cars in a variety of configurations delivered in 1929. Both cars had bodies built by Pullman that were 80 long overall. M.131 and sister M.130 had baggage, smoking, and coach compartments, while M.176 was one of six cars (M.175-180) that also crammed in an RPO section. M.176 lost its RPO for more baggage space in 1938. According to McCall's The Doodlebugs, M.131 went to California for a while working the Fresno-Corcoran local, before moving back to the middle of the system (Kansas-Oklahoma) for service in 1949. M.176 spent most of its career on the eastern and middle portions of the system; a 1942 table in McCall's book shows it assigned to a main line run between Ft. Madison, IA and Kansas City, MO. Its most common post-war assignment (along with M.131) was the Little Ranger, Tr. 25 and 26 between Emporia and Winfield, KS. Both cars were dieselized in 1952 with a Caterpillar D-397 V-12. M.131 also traded its pair of traction motors for a single motor on the #2 axle salvaged from a 2-class E1 passenger diesel. M.131 closed out service on the Arkansas City, KS-Shawnee, OK run in 1956 and was sold for scrap in 1958. M.176 closed out motor service on the Little Ranger in October 1958, and after a brief turn in freight service between Independence and Longton, KS, it went to scrap in 1960. Happily, never-dieselized sister M.177 was saved and sent to Traveltown in L.A. for display. An aborted restoration effort a few years ago left the car half-finished, with a rebuilt engine but a generator still in need of rewinding, a painted cab but a primered body.

> 3. M176 rear view.

McCall's book includes a photo of M.176 on p.235 on the Little Ranger as the Topeka Chapter NRHS was along for the ride in the last week of that train's service. A line relocation at El Dorado, KS resulted in that town's station being served by a spur, and M.176 is shown backing into El Dorado to pick up mail. That backup move may explain the Wabco A-6 airhorn perched on the rear of the car.


Someone asked about M.190 going to New Mexico. Apparently it's finally on the move out of Barstow, CA. See: http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1335046


By the way, according to Stagner's Santa Fe Steam Survivors, ATSF 2-8-0 2546 in the background of one of those M.176 shots was assigned to yard service in Ottawa, KS for many years. It was taken out of service at Chanute, KS on April 23, 1953 and donated to Marceline, MO on December 20, 1955. It's displayed near the former Santa Fe depot.

Evan,

Wow! Much obliged to you for that info. I know very little about Santa Fe's
dDoodlebugs having gown up in South Texas. MY first real exposure began in 1967 here in Oklahoma City.

Yardclerk

The Generator has been rewound, and the car is still currently under restoration.

-John

chiefyellowbear Wrote:
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> The Generator has been rewound, and the car is
> still currently under restoration.
>
> -John


You're referring to the M190 I hope?