Doodlebug (railcar): Difference between revisions

The term "doodlebug" was given to the first successful motor car, the Union Pacific #1 McKeen Motor Car, built in late 1904 to March 1905. When the motor car first arrived for service in Kearney, Nebraska, the switchman looked at the Maroon colored, knife edge nose, gasoline motor car, anand proclaimed, "Look at the potato bug." Although this is not when the doodlebug term was coined, it was probably around the same time that railroaders created this nickname.