Where is Everybody

[frawin]

What is happening in Howard and Elk County, there has not Been a Post since Yesterday. Is everybody working, sleeping Late or just not Interested In The forum anymore. We really miss the Good Old Days, when there was Lots of Good Posts about Birthdays, Local News, the Weather, what is Happening in the Schools, and Many Other good things. I have even quit posting Better Fill Up Today, because it looked like No one was Reading or paying any Attention to the Forum. Come on People if you DO NOT start posting more we run the Risk of losing the Form all Together. Wilma and Friends have a GOOD DAY.

[W. Gray]

Okay, Flashback.

There was a discussion on this forum back in 2008 concerning Doodlebugs. Wilma even said she remembered one.

One Doodlebug ran from Cherryvale to Independence, through, Oak Valley, Longton, Moline, Grenola, and on to Wichita.

Here is some further info on a Missouri Pacific Doodlebug:



This photo may look like a street car but it is a streamlined Doodlebug belonging to the Missouri Pacific. If you have heard of the MoPac Eagle passenger trains, this was called the Eaglet.

Only one was built and that was during WWII. It took a four-man crew to operate and held 34 passengers.

MoPac had a number of other Doodlebugs but this was the only streamlined version. This car weighed 107,000 pounds which is heavier than an empty Boeing 727 airliner.

This Doodlebug was built in St. Charles, Mo, in 1942, saw service in Nebraska, and was overhauled in Sedalia, Mo, in 1955. It was then sent to Arkansas where it no longer retained an Eaglet status but became the Delta Eagle. After passenger service continued going into the dumper, it was scrapped in 1961.

[proelkco]

Interesting

[Wilma]

The "Doodleburg" I remember came out of Wichita, southwest to the little town where we lived and went on to the southwest.  I don't remember or never knew how far.  In the evening, it would return from the southwest and proceed on to Wichita.  It consisted of an engine, baggage/mail car and passenger car.  It was our primary carrier of mail at that time.  My father would meet it at 6:00 in the morning, pick up the mail for several small towns and deliver that mail to the little towns.  In the evening he reversed the route, picking up the outgoing mail from the little towns and delivering it to the depot for the evening Doodleburg to pick up.  The mail had to be at the depot by 6:00 PM.

There was a newly constructed highway that started at our little town and followed the train track to Wichita.  We called it the Diagonal.  Today it is known as Highway 42 and goes as far southwest as, I think, Harper.  I never rode the Doodleburg as it was easier to ride to Wichita with my Mother as she carried the mail from Clearwater into Wichita in the mornings and back to Clearwater in the evenings.  We could spend several hours in downtown Wichita or sometimes she chose to drive back to our little town, then back toWichita to pick up the mail in the evening.  At that time the main post office depot in Wichita was located behind the train depot.  Actually, the Doddleburg was going the wrong way to ride it to Wichita to spend the day.