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Pennsylvania Railroad No. 4663 (also known as the Streamlined Doodlebug) was a OEW330 doodlebug that was constructed by Westinghouse Electric and the Pullman Car Company in 1929 and was modified with streamlining in 1941.

History[]

Pennsylvania Railroad No. 4663 was constructed in 1929 by Westinghouse Electric and the Pullman Car Company along with sister railcar No. 4664, No. 4663 had served on many branch lines that were operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad, No. 4663 along with No. 4664 was served well on the Pennsylvania Railroad until 1940, when an accident that involved No. 4648, which had led to a rebuild of all the doodlebugs from having gasoline-powered engines to diesel-powered engines.

Before the conversion from gas engines to diesel engines had commenced, the shop workers of the Pennsylvania Railroad had saw a potential in this railcar and they modified it with streamlining on the front end and became the only doodlebug to ever be streamlined at that time, it was later refitted with a Hamilton 68SA engine in 1944 and continued to serve the branch lines of the system to passengers with the new "shovelnose" design on its front, although the rear end remained conventional.

The railcar was spotted a few years later with safety stripes on the front on the Grand Rapids to Muskegon local as it had tended to stay within the Michigan region in its streamlined form. However, starting at the end of World War II, right when the Pennsylvania Railroad and other railroads expected an increase in passenger service, cars and planes began to take over the railroads.

Because of the branch lines closing down due to the rise of cars and planes, Pennsylvania Railroad No. 4663 was retired from service and sadly broken up for scrap in 1954.

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