Who was there? Who rode them?

 I can't claim to have ridden any doodlebug in the states but back in the mid 70's I did have the experience in rural Japan.  I wanted to visit the Shimabara castle which is about 60km outside of Nagasaki.  The train ride was listed as a local and when I got to the station platform I found that the "train" consisted of a single doodlebug.  I don't recall the particular make of doodlebug but the interior matched that of the interior shots I've seen of U.S. versions.  There were several rows of seats to the back of the car, the area just in front of the motorman's cab was a general package storage area.  The entry/exit door was a folding affair just to the side of the door for the general freight.

  The ride was fairly smooth but slow - it was a local and stopped at every station to pick up and drop off passengers and light freight.  My most memorable moment came towards the end of the ride.  School was letting out and when the bug pulled up to some forgotten train station about 30 or so middle school students, chattering and laughing the way students of that age do everywhere, burst into the baggage area and saw me sitting in the front seat and, as a unit, came to a dead stop.  All conversation ceased and their eyes got as big as saucers.  Finally, one said, "American?"  I answered in Japanese "yes, that's right."  Absolute pandemonium ensued.  Finally, the same young lady asked,"Where from?" 

  At that time I was living in Rochester, N.Y. but my Japanese wasn't good enough to explain that so I just said, "New York".  Instant recognition, lots of smiles and "Ah, New York!"  Using a combination of my very broken Japanese and their minimal English and drawings on paper and hand gestures we managed to communicate where I was from, where I was going, what grades they were in and what they were studying...and then it was their stop and off they went each one saying, in English, "good bye" I'm sure I gave each one of them a good dinner table story to share about the American from New York they met on the train...and they gave me a memory of a doodlebug ride I will never forget.

Hmmmm...wonder if that or others still run in Japan, and/or other parts of the world?

Really a neat story, and a contribution to international relations.

Well, I'm one of the old-timers who rode the doodlebugs (we called them "Puddlejumpers") in days gone by.  Mine was on the Baltimore and Ohio's dual Illinois branches between Shawneetown, the mainline at Flora, and Beardstown (all Illinois). Two doodlebugs left the mainline at Flora, around 6AM Monday through Saturday.  One headed north through Springfield to Beardstown on the Illinois river...the other south to Shawneetown on the Ohio, returning in the afternoon.  The lines were built when the rail shortcut across the state of Illinois was significant...but by the late 40's when I rode the lines they were pretty much redundant.  A shortcut between steamboat connections was no longer important.

  The south line connected with the Southern, L & N, and New York Central and others.  The north line the Illinois Central, C&EI, Burlington, and the Illinois Terminal etc.

    Both the north and south lines out of Flora used J.G. Brill gas electrics pulling an ancient wood Postal/Baggage car. 

     In 1950, petitions to discontinue the line's passenger service were pending so a friend and I skipped school one snowy winter morning and bought round trip tickets to Shawneetown from Fairfield (our home) to ride it while we still could.  The memory of that ride is one of my fondest rail recollections.  At Enfield, we saw a "Jim Crow" L&N  passenger/baggage combo.  Passenger sections at each end...baggage in the middle.  Never saw one before (or since) but it was in use then.  There was a hour and a half layover in Shawneetown...once an important river port. but in 1950 a town of a few hundred.  Much of the time my friend and I were the only passengers...but there was quite a bit of mail and express business still...just not enough to make it pay for the B&O. 

    Earlier in my boyhood I delivered the Chicago morning papers in Fairfield...which made it necessary I meet the Southbound doodlebug early every morning and get the bundled  papers off the baggage car so my subscribers could read it with their morning coffee.  It was fun meeting the train, and seeing who and what was coming to town...particularly memorable were the express shipments of peeping baby chicks each Spring.  Three or four depot express carts full at times.

     It amazes me now to realize that at that time I could have the daily Chicago morning paper (Chicago's 250 miles or so north) early enough that I could deliver them in time for my customers breakfast.  FED-EX can't do that today. 

   Until the last few years, the gas-electrics were as Brill built them...the B&O attempted to modernize them in their final years.  Painting them dark blue and grey and putting on a sheet metal pilot.  They looked nice...but their time had passed.

     I have a picture I took of the "Puddlejumper" in Fairfield (as built) posted below. I have a few more if you'd like to see them. 

    And you are right Colorado Hirailer, I am in my 84th year...lots of memories of the times gone by...but, by golly still having a good time!

     Thanks for letting this old guy ramble on a bit. 

          Logan

Thanks Robert and Logan for those great stories. Would like to see your other photos Logan if you have the time to post them.

russ

I second this. Great stories and picture--would love to see those other pictures.

Jeff C

OK Russ and Jeff.  But it will have to wait til tomorrow.  I have a date with a grill and some New York strip steaks for this afternoon/evening.

   Glad you enjoyed my memories.

          Logan

Really great stories, and just what I hoped for.  Logan, if you want to see maybe that

or another L&N "Jim Crow" combine, you can see the one that my mother used to ride

out to visit her aunt outside Shellbyville, Kentucky.  The car is at New Haven, Ky.,

displayed at the Kentucky Railway Museum, just off I-65 south of Louisville.  They also

have a Brill gas electric there from the Frankfort and Cincinnati "Bourbon Route".  Sounds like you could have a reunion with old friends in one trip.  Sadly, though,

neither car is running but trains are run and steam is displayed there.

During the 70s and 80s, the PRR 4666 was maintained in serviceable condition on the Black River & Western out of Ringoes, NJ. I had the opportunity to ride it during this period. It took you back to the days when Pennsy was running these cars between Red Bank and points west via Sea Girt.

Bob

1976 photo taken at Ringoes by Mr. Harv Kahn:

Before PRR4666 operated on Black River & Western, it ran on the New Hope & Ivyland for several years.

Former PRR gas-electric 4662 (converted to diesel-electric by PRR) is now running on Wilmington & Western out of Greenbank DE.

   I didn't take any pictures of the doodlebug or those school children but I did take pictures of trains and places traveled.  The picture below is from the waiting platform at Matsue and the station and the surrounding area is typical of what I saw in rural Japan and it was a station like this where the students got on and off.

As RBDR mentioned above, The Wilmington & Western Railroad runs "THE PAUL REVERE" DOODLEBUG 4662 occasionally during the week and during the Christmas season.  We took the ride last holiday season.

You'll find rail buses in Japan today on minor lines. Most of the really old stuff vanished around 2000.

I rode the Frankfort & Cincinnati M55-1 from Frankfort to Louisville when it was donated to the Kentucky RR Museum in 1959 (I think). L&N allowed F&C to follow the C&O George Washington that day. We even had a photo runby en-route. The doodlebug was mechanically driven so that the engineer had to shift gears. It was a one way trip as the car stayed at the museum on River Road after it arrived. Unfortunately, the 1964 Ohio River flood rose waters up to the roof line of the car so I'm glad to see that KRM has recently restored it.

Also, I rode SCL's ex-SAL 4900 doodlebug from Lakeland, FL to Naples, FL and back just a few days before Amtrak started and ended that run. The 4900 was scrapped soon afterwards.

-JH

When I lived in Louisville, I thought it was nuts to have a railroad museum right along

the bank of a flood-prone river like the Ohio.  HAVE they restored the F&C car?  I was

in it a few months ago, and it looked like it needed much more work, but I have always heard they could not get it running because there was no source for "pressed paper" wheels...no idea why steel wheels could not be substituted....

I tried to visit a vintage car collection that was in a metal pole building on the banks

of the Mississippi, in west central Illinois,  which also is prone to flooding...also nuts for a location.  Could not find party to gain entry, but found similar car in a collection in southern Pa.

Thanks.  I've heard of the New Haven museum and would like very much to visit it.  It is only 3 hours or so from Fairfield, IL where I now live in retirement.  Thanks for the information.  I'm looking for the additional pictures of the Shawneetown trip and will post them later today.

          Logan

I remember the 1964 flood very well. We lived in Rosedale Park in Covington KY. We had 3" of water in the house.

As promised, a few more shots of the B&O doodlebug in the 1940s  The first, the pre-modernization train northbound at Fairfield, IL.  The view is toward the west, and the train is crossing the Southern's St. Louis division.  The second is a head on view of the "modernized" #6038 (New paint and Pilot).  That's the engineer climbing into the cab.  The final shot is a close-up of the front truck (the one with traction motors).  That's all I have on this topic.

     As a life-long railfan, I have lots of other memories of iconic trains and sights of the 30's, 40's and 50's.  I was fortunate to experience both small town and big city life as a youth, and have memories of the great trains and sights of the time.  I saw a lot.

Great stories...but off topic and us old men tend to ramble on a lot.  Thanks for giving me a chance to share some memories with you.