Rolling Stock

Most of Brill's railbuses were built for Mack, which already had experience in the automotive truck industry and which sold its railbuses under the name International Motor Company until sometime in 1922. They were the railroad equivalent of the streetcar Birneys they resembled — not very comfortable riding and a little too lightly-built to be as safe as one might wish, not to mention somewhat ludicrous looking. In the United States, gas railcars such as these and even the later, more sophisticated versions received the undignified nickname "doodlebug."

Debra Brill - History of the J.G. Brill Company

The Lancaster, Oxford & Southern #10 was built by the Sanders Machine Shop in 1915, for the Lancaster, Oxford & Southern Railway. In October 1914, when the Lancaster, Oxford & Southern was sold after financial woes, an attempt was made to operate more economically by converting some passenger cars into gasoline-powered railcars (sometimes called "doodlebugs"). Number 10 was first used on three-foot gauge track in southern Lancaster County. Its diminutive size was due to its origins on a 3' gauge line. It operated for two years as a narrow gauge motor car before being converted to standard gauge in 1918. After being sold to numerous owners, this motor car was later purchased from the Grasse River RR in 1962. It was sold again to the Wolfeboro Railroad in the 1970s and sold again to Lowell National Park, where it worked from 1980-1984. It is now operational at the Strasburg Rail Road, where it works today in passenger service as a substitute for any of the steam engines.

Locomotive Wiki

The historic Lancaster, Oxford, & Southern Railroad (L.O.& S.) No. 10 is the last remaining piece of rolling stock from that long-forgotten little railroad and is believed to be the only piece of its kind built by the Sanders Machine Shop in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Constructed in 1915 as a cost-saving measure for the L.O.& S., the car was to intended to replace the railroad's steam locomotive, therefore reducing both maintenance and crew costs of moving passengers along the line during a time when the small railroad was plagued with financial troubles. Unfortunately, Car No. 10 saw only three years of service on the L.O.& S. The railroad never recovered from its financial difficulties. The nearly 50-year-old line ceased regular operations in 1918 and was sold for scrap in 1919. Sometime after 1919, Car No. 10 was sold to the Grassee River Railroad in New York State. In remained part of the Grasse River RR until 1960 when it was sold to Winston Gottschalk of the Strasburg Rail Road. The car was extensively restored in 1973, then leased to several other small railroads unti l1984. It returned to Strasburg in 1985 and ran until 1991. After another full restoration between 1991 and 1997, the car reentered passenger service on the Strasburg Rail Road where it has remained in service ever since.

Strasburg Rail Road