#2521
St. Louis Car Company Doodlebug
🇺🇸 United States ·built by St. Louis Car Company· from 1936· pair of diesel-electric railcars
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1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Seaboard Coast Line Train 98, The Champion, at Naples, FL on March 14, 1971 (24944339774): Roger Puta· Public domain
what is it?
The St. Louis Car Company "Doodlebug" was a model of lightweight, streamlined diesel-electric railcars built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1936 for the Seaboard Air Line Railroad.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 90 years ago, in 1936.
- 447 kW is about 5 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 13 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 22.6 m long: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 35 years (1936–1971).
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1936
- in service from
- 1936
- retired
- 1971
- status
- retired
- number built
- 2
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- St. Louis Car Company
- operators
- Seaboard Air Line Railroad, Seaboard Coast Line Railroad
- top speed
- —
- power
- 447 kW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Bo'2'
- length
- 22.6 m
- weight
- 79.7 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q7388611, Wikipedia: St. Louis Car Company Doodlebug (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.