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‘Doodlebug’ takes its last trip

The “Doodlebug” is shown above at the Sixth Street station; the endearing name is a railroad term for small engines. The Doodlebug made its final run, leaving the Parkersburg Sixth Street station, at 5 p.m., July 18, 1953. The run between Zanesville, Ohio, and Parkersburg, which began in 1886, normally consisted of just two cars, the engine and one passenger car. Interest by people wanting to be part of the final run was so great that three extra cars were added. (Photo Provided)

It was standing room only on ‘Doodlebug’s’ Last Run

It’s been many years since the valley has seen anything like the crowd which thronged the Zanesville-Parkersburg train for its last run yesterday — to conclude 66 years of service on an 88 mile long line which saw the engineer making a total of 30 stops routinely every day of his run.

The original plans for the railroad called for a line between Zanesville and Pomeroy, to connect with Parkersburg, but eventually plans called for the “Z.M. and P.” line (Zanesville, Marietta and Parkersburg) known as “Boone’s Black Diamond,” as a result of a black diamond award made to Mr. Albert E. Boone, the man who first planned the railroad.

The name later was changed to the Zanesville and Ohio River Railroad and in March 1900, the Ohio and Little Kanawha Railroad.

One of the most exciting happenings that marked the history of the line occurred on April 22, 1922, when the train left the tracks at Kreigbaum’s Crossing, Ohio, and plunged 35 feet into a ravine, killing Almer Preston, the engineer, who reached out and shut off the steam valve, in an effort to protect his passengers, instead of trying to save himself.

For years the railroad up the Muskingum River valley competed with the steamboat, with the railroad reducing its fare and then the steamboats by turns, according to the old-timers.

The railroad won out for a time as the last regular run made by a steamboat was that of July 27, 1922, made by the steamer Liberty. But modern highways and modern automobiles finally doomed even the railroad.

But the group who will make today’s last run on the little diesel-electric engine-pulled train, is expected to be an excited group made up of many an old timer who will relive the days of half a century, more or less, when a steam-engine was necessary to pull the train, and it was packed then — as today.

The Parkersburg Daily State Journal

July 18 and 19, 1953

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The Wood County Historical Society works to preserve yesterday for tomorrow. For more information, contact P.O. Box 565, Parkersburg, WV 26102

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