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An odd little train with a strange name once connected communities up and down the Muskingum Valley. The Doodlebug, as the odd little train was called, passed into history on July 18, 1953.
Doodlebugs were gasoline or diesel-powered railcars that consisted of as few as one car. The one that served Marietta operated on the Baltimore and Ohio lines that ran from Parkersburg and then up the west side of the Muskingum River. Some of the tracks remain, including the section that runs down the middle of Harmar Street. It made regular stops along the way at places like Waterford, Stockport and Malta. The Doodlebug made 26 regular stops between Parkersburg and Zanesville. You could also simply flag it down if you needed to hop onto it.
The trains could operate as single-car units, though they frequently would have mail cars and passenger cars trailing behind.
This unique form of transportation got its start around 1905 when companies built the first units by converting existing passenger cars to power. They were used on various low volume branch lines around the country to deliver passengers and mail in rural areas.
The article in The Times marking the end of the train indicated that our Doodlebug had made its first run 65 years before, in reality, that is when rail service started with the first passenger train traveling to Zanesville in 1886. An article in the Zanesville Times Recorder indicated that the Doodlebug here replaced a steam train on July 15, 1933. Nationally, the first Doodlebug was built in 1905 using a baggage car and a car engine.
If the small train regularly had the business it had on that hot July day it would likely still be operating today.
More than 300 people crowded the train that day for the run from Zanesville to Parkersburg. Retired railroad workers, members of the Canton and Akron chapters of the National Railroad Historical Society and the Columbus Camera Club were all on board with many of them making the round trip from Marietta to Zanesville and back. Others opted for shorter rides, riding from Union Station on Second Street to Harmar for instance. Among those on board that day was Anthony Robinson of Roseville, who helped to lay the original tracks for the line in the 1880s.
The train, which consisted of three passenger coaches, a baggage car and a mail car, was standing room only. So many people wanted to take the trip that a normal locomotive was attached to help pull the low powered Doodlebug on the route.
When the Train pulled into Malta, 1,000 people, The Times reported, were waiting at the station, including members of the McConnelsville High School Band. Speeches were made from a specially built platform.
On the final run, it arrived 20 minutes late to Marietta, likely held up by well-wishers along the route. The Times Recorder indicated there were 200 people in Stockport and 150 when it passed Waterford.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had wanted to stop the service for years, but the public utilities commission had denied the request. In 1953, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in favor of the railroad, allowing the B and O to stop the service. Nationally, most Doodlebugs had stopped operating by 1960. Today if you want to see one you would have to travel to a railroad museum to see a version of the odd little train.
Art Smith is online manager of The Times. His column appears in the Weekend edition.
You can contact him at asmith@mariettatimes.com