SMT, a bit of history in that model. That model is a kit based on a Chicago Northwestern gas electric or “doodlebug” produced by Walthers in around 1940. When I saw the thumbnail I realized that I have the instruction sheet for this model. Once again, great video!

I remember seeing this particular model about 50 years ago. It was built and painted by a friend of mine - we were members of the same model railroad club back then. His model railroad was the Whitewater Valley Southern. I saw that logo on the side and it brought back memories.

That’s a nice runner great job getting it up and running. Those pliers of your great grandfather’s are priceless I bet they have some great stories and what a sentimental tool to have. I have my Grandfathers lantern from when he was a signal man for the Illinois central back in the 1920s most of my family worked on the ICR starting in the 1880’s

That's a unique engine to work on. Good to see it running again, and I'll admit I've never seen a wood kit like this before.

It is always a joy to restore and cherish a craftsman product from an earlier generation.This on may be from an early Walthers kit. Please keep up the good work and the love of the hobby which is a great inter generation hobby. Thanks.

Amazing after all these years just a good cleaning/service and away she goes . So awesome to see it run and you didn't even have to replace any of the original parts 👍👍

New chapter for the SMT manual. Vintage Wooden kits.👍🚂🇨🇦🙋

Those doodlebugs were the preferred way for railroads to offer passenger service on little used and/or deferred maintenance lines before abandonment.

Amazing vid SMT it's cool seeing you make old trains run again 👍

Now that was a real treat watchin' 'ya get something that old and long forgotten running again, who knows what the story is behind it - could have been someones valued project from early in their model RR career or who knows maybe one of dads or granpas per projects from long ago --- either way im going to guess you may have a model there that the original builder of is possibly long gone - well done you have given life again to a neat little piece of someones history there.

Nice to see these old kits from my childhood. You make repair look so easy, I have been repairing and rebuilding for over 50 years and it is great to see a young person so involved in a great hobby.

I find these early wood ho locomotives very intriguing

Wow never seen a wood loco. I bought a mixed lot of rolling stock had a couple of box cars and a snow plow. But all wood. The box cars had these little vents on the top that opened.i have them somewhere. They are old and missing a few parts but still great.

Love the old 50's and early 60's locos. Great job!

I have one of these myself decorated for the "Grand Junction" railroad of a "retired" model railroader who, last I heard, was in assisted living. It currently has rail wipers for power pickup, so I intend to eliminate them with a similar system that your model uses. It also came with one of those lightweight trailer cars another viewer mentioned. One thing I noticed - that rear "bolster' that you placed between the truck and the floor of the model is a stationary part of the real thing, so it really should be glued back on. Great video!

The wizard strikes again great job Harrison. 👍😇😎

Walthers kit. Wood roof and floor, cast Zamac ends and some detail parts. Stamped sides probably no rivet detail at the time those kits were released. There was also a gas electric RPO/baggage/coach combine and accompanying trailer coach based on a Gulf Mobile & Ohio set used into the early 1960's if I remember. My dad shortened the body, eliminating the RPO apartment, It was remote red in the 1990's and ran as late as 2017.

Minor terminology correction, it is a "car" not a "locomotive". It voided the warranty on almost all gas-electrics if you tried to tow anything with them. A few were capable of towing a small number of cars. This is a model of a Brill built car. Brill - a leading traction equipment supplier based in Philadelphia - did produce cars with such capability (a minority) and even produced special light weight trailer passenger cars for these units that resembled an interurban car without electrical gear

That was so cool to watch. What an awesome buy. Thanks so much for sharing this one for sure 😊

Amazing how quiet and smooth the motor is. Well done.

What a beautiful model and great job. Will be easy enough to fix that paint too.

Have you ever looked into Ronald Dodd's Hornby Dublo Magnetiser? He has a KZfaq video about it. I bought one & it works magnificently! It is particularly useful on this type of motor, gets them running like new & lowers current draw.

Absolutely one of my favorite videos of yours my friend. Can't wait to see it again especially when you put a little time into it and really clean it up. That's nice!!

It's always inspiring to see these old trains come back to life, well done!!

That is the most awesome commuter train I've ever seen 👍

A nice find, I recently got a doodlebug very similar although it was slightly newer and was 100% brass. I upgraded mine to DCC sound and a new can motor with flywheel. I suggest you try it out too, it makes quite the difference when it’s running

Wonderful old model. So glad it is working instead of collecting dust on a shelf. Thanks for sharing.

Working on a vintage loco with vintage pliers. RESPECT. Hopefully some day I’ll have grandkids who use my dad’s tools.

That's fabulous to see these old girls run again!!! Gr8 job!!!

Very well detailed ,I like all of the roof ventilators!

The excitement you have when you get an old train running reminds me witnessing my son taking his first steps !

Fantastic. Brought back some great memories. My father built Varney HO kits in the late fifties of this same construction. Wood chassis and roofs with stamped metal sides. Lots of freight cars and a full set of Pullman coaches. He used all spring loaded side frame trucks. Tedious to assemble. I still have and use his tools. Glad you got it running.

Excellent video with the shots of your newly acquired ancient doodlebug brought back to life, running and with mechanism sound as well! Carry on young Master Harrison!! Bravo! And thank you for sharing this.

Hey SMT, long time fan, Glad you won my auction and were able to get this locomotive up and running again!

Very cool early passenger equipment. Glad to see it running . Local train museum doing a run.

Great job smt! Love the content! Keep it up dude! Going to a train show soon and watching your stuff only makes me more excited for it!

I saw the video in my queue, and immediately heard in my head : "Weeeeeell, folks. . . .". Always a treat to see what treasure you have now.

WELL DONE HARRISON!

I love this channel bcs, he could obviously make it run again by replacing the old parts, but he aways tries to bring it back restoring the old parts.

I enjoy the challenge of working on these basket cases.

That's crazy! I found one of those in the bottom of a "mystery box" and figured it was a home made project since it was made out of wood. I'm going to have to go back and take a look at it. Good job on the repair as always!!

Nice find! And good job getting it running again.

ive never seen this class, as i focus on british locomotives in the area around me, and now i love it great video

I have one of these (gave it to my g/f who is also a train buff .) I also have several of the 1947 to 1965 Walther's "Pug" coaches ( 60' wood/metal kits). Recently i received one of their MP-54 MU coaches....still needs to be built.

I think its beautiful .... What a cool find on Ebay!!! 👍

Nice restoration love the paint scheme

doodlebugs usually just pulled a single car, maybe a baggage, a coach, or a box car. Nice job. Those old pittman open frame motors are bullet proof.

I am most definitly impressed.

Great job SMT Mainline

Fantastic video lots of information and very informative and interesting keep up the great work on the locomotive

I really like the video segments and angles you took them from on your layout of this running.

as a kid back in the 60s when we went to a Grants Woolworths or any dime store that had toys the first thing i would look for was a toy train, and of coarse i wanted every one i saw! typical kid!

Another awesome video SMT

I see you messing around fixing this locomotive and it brings to mind that smell of like metal or burning metal. I don't know how to explain it but people who had one know. My memory comes from one my dad had before he passed. I don't know where it is nowadays but I wish I had it.

Yep the gas electric Doodlebug was rostered by a lot of class 1s to protect passenger service on less traveled branch lines. Actually thought it was a representation of the Chicago & Northwestern's Namekagon until a closer shot revealed it to be a freelance road. Got that same pair of needle nose from my grandfather ( my being an old fart myself fills in for the great for yours) as well as a step ladder from him as well that's a veritable archeological dig of 3 generations of interior and exterior paint jobs.

Great save, SMT! I also enjoyed the railfanning at the end of the video.

I've been following your channel for quite some time SMT, your content is awesome! Learned a lot from your videos, especially on how to service locomotives. My Athearn Blue Boxes run so much better thanks to you!

Great save, Harrison!

This was real nice , cool train wish I had one, didn’t even know it existed!

Never fail to amaze me

Walthers made a lot of kits during WWII out of nonstrategic materials. Cardboard, wood, pot metal, etc. This looks like one of those kits. They would be sold no trucks, no couplers, for a modeler to finish when materials for those parts became available. After the war was over all kinds of "military surplus" small parts became available. Small motors, fine gears and a plethora of other small machine parts. That I remember reading Walthers made Doodlebug kits thru to the1960's and were still on hobby shop shelves into the1970's. You have a rare find.

Nice restoration Harrison and a very cool locomotive!

Great video.

Great job

OMG rough as guts repair or what, circlip pliers and mouse killer soldering iron lol lol lol love these comedy repair videos you do😂😂😂

I'm fairly sure those are circlip pliers with the ends broken off. It's lovely that you've kept them all this time but you'd have an easier time with some needlenoses.

Its always a good day when we get a restoration video !

Track level video and "drone" shots are great!

These doodlebug are Always interesting.

nice job looks great still riding the rails

That beautiful

Take a bow! I'm impressed!

The overall quality of the parts is amazing. That model must have cost a fortune when it was new. Probably there is only a very limited number of these still existing today. I really like its technology and looks. I think it is worth a proper restoration. Careful cleanup of all parts without losing the original paint and then carefully repair with matching paint and where required with remade parts. Did you ever think about starting an online museum with pictures, videos and all sort of information you have about old treasures like that one?

Love your videos!! That is an old Walthers kit, I also have one of those, as well as one built from a LaBelle kit.

Get a truck for the back that does pickup on both sides and that will really improve it. Just finished a 53-year-old Riv 0-6-0 conversion to DCC and power pickup all the way through the tender. Remarkable how well that thing runs now.

That is a walthers gas electric or doodle bug , i worked on one of those cars a couple of years ago. The front needed a lot of work. I ENJOYED TODAYS PROJECT ALOT.

I am a fan of any type of self-propelled rail motor car probably my two favorite being this one the doodlebug and the later manufactured RDC budd car

Another good episode, but I especially like the video at the end. The closeups and variety were great. Jerry

A great subject for a CN repaint.

Thanks Harrison I am 50s model myself, your train runs better than me.

Hi Harrison, love the doodle bug !

wow, After that I need to get to work. I have a beautiful brass SP doodlebug I bought from a friend. It's supposedly doesn't run, but have not messed with it. I ran across it packed away while moving some stuff around. To run on my layout, it would have to be converted to DCC, but I do have a DC test loop (and a whole second layout) so could play around. It's beautifully detailed model so I would need to be real careful. Thanks for the inspiration. PS, not a locomotive, these self-propelled railcars were considered differently. There was a whole big thing about their development in a recent (I believe) Classic Trains. Anyway, they were not intended to pull other cars; although they often did. The Railroads really overtaxed them in actual service, a testament to the original design.

This is exactly why I work on my locomotives. Absolutely love this . Especially the mixture of passenger cars at the ending made it look authentic to a scenic railroad but basically opened up and is on a budget . The observation car sounded like it had a hot box. I seen a similar motor drive system at my local flea market I may take a look at it . If it's still there maybe next week . What was your body drive system power locomotive still had the frame etc it was in a project box all for a dollar each shells motors gears drivetrain etc. I have seen wooden passenger cars and box car kits but they are rare mostly made of balsa wood. Those pliers I wouldn't get rid of them myself either sentimental reasons and all they need is a good penetrant oil to clean up some of the rust. Otherwise as you said if it ain't broke don't fix it. some people like to be so nitpicky and you see it mostly in the comments.

He's right you don't see a lot of wooden model trains

I think the actual doodlebug body and stuff is from an old Walther's kit. I recognize the styling and whatnot. The drive is almost definitely from an old Varney from around the same time. I don't personally think the problem is with the brushes, I think it's just she needs to be run in, although it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to put new brushes in it anyway. Beautiful loco!

that's awesome , propper piece of history , re painting or leaving as it is ?

Hi Harrison, I have one to it belongwd to a dear friend who passed away in 2016, his fremd who bought out his shop a few years befor. I was helping him remodle the shop, he gave it to0 me for helping him. I got it running, it also had a second car not powered, my friend wasa a electritian for lakewanna, I'll send a video at a later date.

Good job! Now you can offer your commuters service to and from the city for work!

This is nice

Nice!

Currently watching in school because my class got canceled!

Southern railway had some version of the doodle bugs too.

I think wrapping those wire connections you made in heat shrink will protect the train a bit more and also eliminate some of the shorts

Prototypically, doodlebugs only had enough power for themselves with maybe one other car in tow. Not sure if they even had enough air for braking more than that. That's all that was needed on low-traffic branch lines. Yours is a scaled-down overachiever!

That's so cool! Nice old quality kit, and it's so similar to an Australian Railcar model I just recently bought, in fact it features in my most recent video. So similar in fact I'm assuming these Railmotor cars were sold to Victorian Railways in Australia back in the 1950's? Anyway, it's awesome, if you ever plan to sell it please let me know lol P.S. Your channel and content is great, keep up the good work, you have some fans in my household 👍 **Update, yes they were in fact purchased from EMC, the predecessor of EMD. Our version was named DERM, (Diesel Electric Rail Motor) Our first ready to run HO scale model has only just been released, previously all we had were kits or expensive brass.

What a great engine! Beautiful and great job getting it running again. I’m sure you get asked this a lot but where did you get that great controller with the meters on it?

Models from the 1940's /50's if intact can be GOOD runners. You need to keep trying for older trains, you do VERY good work.

That's cool 😎

yeah you have to keep the pliers, just give it some love.

What a pleasurable video to discover, Harrison, after I had been away for a few weeks. The interurban is a real vintage find, and well worth the amount you paid on eBay and the effort you put into restoring it to running order. As a collector of traction models, I really appreciate the opportunities to see such equipment in operation. I seem to recall that you picked up another vintage streetcar / interurban unit at the OVAR flea market sale a few months ago. Did you ever get it to run? As always, many thanks for an entertaining and very informative interlude that clearly generated a great deal of interest and notable commentary. By the way, I also have a pair of pliers similar to those you inherited from your grandfather. Together with a couple of other prior-generation tools I have, they remain my workbench go-to preference for their reliability in addition to their nostalgic connection to my father.