Hi everyone,

Does anyone know what the current condition of the Frankfort & Cincinnati doodlebug #2 "The Cardinal" is? It is supposedly preserved at at the Kentucky Railway Museum according to the book "Historic Images of Frankfort". Are there any current pictures or drawings of the unit floating around? I haven't heard much about this unit in KTRM's collection, nor seen any drawings for the unit. The doodlebug is an old Brill model 55 that has the classic southern short line modifications.

Thanks,
Stuart

Stuart,

The Frankfort & Cincinnati ("F&C") had two doodlebugs. One was a Brill Model 55, numbered M-55-1. This car, because it was painted red, was known as "The Cardinal" informally when in service. This is the one that is preserved at the Kentucky Railway Museum ("KRM") in New Haven, Kentucky. The car is actually in pretty good physical condition, having been sand blasted, repainted and other work done about 10 years ago. The car sits in the museum's barn. Mechanically, the car is having some work done to see if it could be made operable.

The car was in pretty awful cosmetic condition when it left KRM for restoration in Evansville, IN. The windows and other hardware had been stripped out of the car during an aborted restoration attempt in the early 1990s. The people who did the work did a really nice job. It has a few things that nitpickers may complain about, but those can be fixed rather easily (large screw heads used to simulate rivets, need to have the slots filled in).

As for drawings, your best bet is the book by Edward Kealty Interurbans Without Wires which chronicles the doodlebug industry in the United States.

I don't know what you mean by "classic southern shortline modifications" though. At one point, it rolled into the turntable pit in Frankfort. The front truck was "rebuilt" which causes the car to lean to one side. Passenger service on the F&C ended when the rear axle on the front truck broke. The F&C did a quick fix to make the car rollable, but it is now only driven by the front axle. It came, under power, from Frankfort to the KRM's site in Louisville when donated. Other than that, it's a standard Brill Model 55. Jim Crow segregation was accomplished with a sheet.

Mechanically, the F&C replaced the gas engine with a Cummins diesel. It has a an 5 speed truck transmission instead of the orignal three speed transmission.

The car and it's sister, used to meet the regular L&N passenger train in Frankfort in front of the depot on street trackage. There was, as of ten years ago or so, a stub of the F&C that radiated from that junction. I always thought it would have been neat to take the car down there to run back and forth on the stub for a special event.

The second doodlebug owned by the F&C was a larger Brill model purchased secondhand. It reportedly went to Cuba.

Correction: The author Is EDMUND KEILTY (two corrections).

There are three books in question: Interurbans Without Wires tells about the car makers; Doodlebug Country about the doodlebug on Class One railroads, and The Short Line Doodlebug about, well, the title says it all.

I took a quick flip through IWW and TSLD and didn't see a diagram for a Brill Model 55 in the "obvious" places, but that doesn't mean it's not there in some other page. 55's were common enough that it should be somewhat easy to find a diagram in either a Car Builder's Cyclopedia or a Loco Encyclopedia (or Railway Age, etc.) if you look hard and long enough. It's really not worth buying either book just for the one photo of each car they have or for diagrams.

TSLD says F&C M55-1 was Brill c/n 22537, 1927, 10-window 43' car seating 26 passengers, standard 68-hp gas mechanical drive which, as noted, KRM replaced. The 2 was ex-Lehigh & New England 90, acquired 1944, Brill model 175, #22275, 1926.

See here:
http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?a ... anColl.jpg (L&NE 90)

This is a pic of the car from a couple of years ago but it is still in the same condition now as seen here:

http://boilerwash.deviantart.com/art/Fr ... -357349060

My understanding from asking questions when I took the picture was that the car is capable of operating under its own power but they don't operate it because one of the wheel assemblies has a significant crack.

The car had operated prior to being sent off for restoration. It hasn't since. The member/volunteer who had made the car operable in the past has been back out at the museum in recent weeks doing work and inspections to make the car run. This year is KRM's 60th anniversary and I think they want to trot it out, and see if it generates interest. If it does, hopefully they can make repairs to the aforementioned wheel assembly.

[quote="Alexander D. Mitchell IV"]Correction: The author Is EDMUND KEILTY (two corrections).

There are three books in question: Interurbans Without Wires tells about the car makers; Doodlebug Country about the doodlebug on Class One railroads, and The Short Line Doodlebug about, well, the title says it all.

I took a quick flip through IWW and TSLD and didn't see a diagram for a Brill Model 55 in the "obvious" places, but that doesn't mean it's not there in some other page. 55's were common enough that it should be somewhat easy to find a diagram in either a Car Builder's Cyclopedia or a Loco Encyclopedia (or Railway Age, etc.) if you look hard and long enough. It's really not worth buying either book just for the one photo of each car they have or for diagrams.
[\quote]

I also agree that the Car Builders' and Locomotive Cyclopeidas might be a good place to look.

I know there are diagrams in the 1922 edition of one of the books, can't recall which.

I rode this car from Frankfort to Louisville when it was donated to KRM (in 1959, I think). Here's a photo from that trip.
-Jim Herron

Drawings of Brill 55 car:

Keilty's The Short Line Doodlebug - page 8 (small drawing - side view only)
Lucas - 100 Years of Railroad Cars - Simmons Boardman, 1958 - page 186 (larger drawing - side view & floor plan) Most likely reprinted from Car Builders Cyclopedia.

Good luck finding the second book.

Nope. That shows Models 65 and 75, not 55. However, in perusing the Brill list I have, it appears that the Model 65 is simply the 55 with a different engine, and only four were supposedly built (PRR 4736-4737, Md. & Del. Coast 302, and stock), with Sterling 115hp or Brill engines as opposed to the 55's 68hp engines (Brill or Midwest). The list also shows the 55's varying from 42' 7" to 43' 6", with the MDDC Model 65 car 44' 6".

I would suggest that it depends if you're seeking out drawings for wall decoration, model building, or restoration of the real thing......... photos of various other 55s are about here and there, which may or may not be relevant to your case.