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Saturday, March 20, 2004 A-l-l-l-llll aboard!Doodlebug is on its way from Belen to Albuquerque (La Historia del Rio Abajo is a monthly column about Valencia County history written by members of the Valencia County Historical Society. The column appears on the third Saturday of each month.
A 1948 editorial in the News-Bulletin asserted that trains, like people, have distinct personalities. According to editor Carter Waid, all railroad passenger trains had identification numbers, but many also had names that either reflected or helped create their particular personalities. This statement was certainly true of the most famous trains on the Santa Fe line, including El Capitan, The Chief and, of course, the Super Chief. But Carter Waid's statement was also very true of a local train he didn't mention in 1948. No other train in Valencia County history was more dependable, useful, appreciated and admired than a small motor car train affectionately known as the Doodlebug. The Doodlebug got its unusual name because, like the bug of the same name, it scampered back and forth with seemingly limitless energy. In the train's case, it ran back and forth from Belen to Albuquerque, with stops in Los Lunas and Isleta, starting as early as 1934. Hispanic residents also called this popular train La Tranbía, (the transport) or La Marranita (the little pig). According to the late A.S. Torres, the train was often called the little pig because it was small, compact and moved around so quickly. The Doodlebug (or La Tranbía or La Marranita) was different from other trains that ran through Valencia County because it was local and it was so small. With an engine and passenger car combined, it was like a bus on tracks, as Mr. Torres and others recall. The Doodlebug measured 70 feet in length, contained 22 seats and could carry as many as 44 passengers. An all-steel motor car, it also carried the mail. A second passenger car was sometimes attached to the lead car to accommodate additional travelers and light cargo. Valencia County residents rode the Doodlebug to Albuquerque for many reasons. Lorene Mathis used the Doodlebug so that her son, Oscar Lee, could receive special medical care from the famous Dr. William Lovelace. Ken Gibson rode the train to attend classes at the University of New Mexico, using the time en route to study. John Duran did the same. Boni Tabet and his friends rode the Doodlebug to Albuquerque to see basketball games at UNM and eat sundaes at the Woolworth's Five and Dime Store on Central Avenue. Elementary school teachers used the Doodlebug to take students on field trips to the Albuquerque zoo and similar educational destinations in Albuquerque. Sometimes, train trips were as educational and as memorable as the field trips themselves. Whole families traveled on the Doodlebug for outings and to shop for specialty items not found in Valencia County stores. Helen Chavez and her folks took the Doodlebug to Albuquerque to shop for her wedding dress. As a young girl, Eleanor Love shopped for shoes during World War II when rubber and leather were rationed and synthetic-sole shoes were hard to find. Ida Aragon Martinez recalls that a trip on the Doodlebug was such an important event for her family that her mother made Ida and her siblings take baths and lay out clean clothes on the night before each much-anticipated trip. The family made sure they were at the Belen depot in plenty of time because, in Ida's mother's prudent words, "You wait for the train; the train doesn't wait for you!" Bertha Shiplet used the Doodlebug to go to Albuquerque with her aunt about twice a month. She recalls the male attention her attractive aunt received as they ate at a small café on Second Street, went to a movie and shopped until it was time to head home. Barbara Castillo Arnold went with her friends to shop on Central Avenue, have lunch and go to the movies at the KiMo and State theatres. Barbara recalls that her mother waited anxiously for her return about 6:30 p.m. Barbara considered it a rite of passage to be old enough to go all the way to Albuquerque and back on the Doodlebug alone. Jane Lijewski felt the same way when she visited her aunt and uncle in Belen for about nine months in 1937. On a recent trip back to Belen from her home in Maryland, Jane remembered the big day when her aunt and uncle let her ride the Doodlebug alone, while they traveled by car to meet her at the depot in Albuquerque. Jane remembers the many sights she saw and the rocking movement of the train as it sped north on this and on every trip to the big city. She considered each trip to be as much fun as a carnival ride. On the days Jane couldn't ride the train, she'd go to the Belen depot to watch the Doodlebug arrive and depart. To this day, when Jane thinks of her happy days in Belen, she thinks of the Doodlebug first. Lupe Fergusson and her brother Felix liked the Doodlebug because it took them to visit relatives in Albuquerque, although they had to walk the distance from the Albuquerque depot to their relatives' homes elsewhere in town. They looked forward to each visit with great anticipation. The Doodlebug and its crew are remembered fondly as well. Ken Gibson recalls that the car was always clean, with a distinctively clean smell inside. Jane Lijewski says a friendly conductor always helped her board the train. Lorene Mathis says that crew members were so kind and helpful that they allowed her and her son to board early if they had an hour or so to wait before departure time. The Doodlebug's crew was so trusted, one woman said, she traveled the train when she was less than a year old. With her parents busy working and going to UNM in Albuquerque, they placed their infant in the hands of the Doodle-bug's conductor every Monday morning so that she could travel the train and be delivered to the waiting arms of her grandparents in Belen. After staying with her grandparents all week, the process was reversed so that the baby could be delivered to stay with her parents each weekend. A train ticket on the Doodlebug was inexpensive (less than a dollar, roundtrip) and it saved on gas, especially during World War II when gasoline was strictly rationed. Railroad families, using free passes earned as a benefit of Santa Fe Railroad employment, were often the Doodlebug's most frequent passengers. A trip from Belen to Albuquer-que took about 45 minutes. The train made as many as four roundtrips daily, with the first run leaving in the early morning and the last shuttle returning in the late evening. Belen residents could set their clocks by the Doodlebug's arrivals and departures each day. John E. Aragon recalls that the curfew for teenagers was 9 p.m., but some stayed out as late as 11 p.m. when the Doodlebug made its last stop in town. Teens who had arrived after 11 would often exclaim the next day that they had gotten home "after La Marranita!" The Doodlebug was an essential form of transportation in Valencia County for many years. But this important train was not unique in New Mexico or on the Santa Fe Railroad line overall. There were, in fact, as many as 48 Doodlebugs connecting large and small communities by rail in the Doodlebugs' heyday, from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s. One such train ran from Clovis to Carlsbad, N.M. Another went from Kansas City to Emporia, Kan. In Texas, a Doodlebug helped the residents of Amarillo travel directly to Lubbock. Doodlebugs in states from Kansas to California shared much the same size and shape, although there were variations over the years. Variations were especially evident in the trains' front-end color combinations and designs. Some designs were diagonal bands, while others were symmetrical diagonal bands that met in the middle. Color combinations varied from black and white to yellow and red. The Belen-to-Albuquerque Doodlebug had a diagonal design painted in white on a dark background. The Clovis-to-Carlsbad Doodlebug was painted in yellow and red. After decades of service in Valencia County and the South-west, Doodlebugs — and passenger trains in general — faced heavy competition from more modern forms of transportation after World War II. By 1949, the Geronimo Bus Lines advertised eight roundtrips from Belen to Albuquerque daily, with three traveling via Los Lunas on the west side of the Rio Grande and five traveling via Adelino, Tomé and Valencia on the east side of the river. Cars provided an even more convenient means of transportation for the traveling public. According to the News-Bulletin, the number of registered vehicles in Valencia County had equaled 4,700 in 1955. By 1960, the number had jumped to 7,070, a substantial increase in just five years. Meanwhile, the annual cost of running the train had risen from year to year, while ticket sales continued to decline. The cost of operating the El Pasoan, running daily from El Paso to Albuquer-que, with stops in Belen and Los Lunas, had risen to $145,788 in 1967, while its revenue had fallen to just $60,959 that same year. No longer able to compete financially, the Santa Fe Railroad announced its plan to shut down all passenger service in Valencia County in 1968. Many local residents protested this upsetting news, including Belen's mayor, Carter Waid, the same man who had written the editorial about trains and their unique personalities some 20 years earlier. In January 1968, Mayor Waid told a meeting of the Inter-State Commerce Commission that Belen still needed the Santa Fe's passenger service because, with its anticipated growth, Valencia County needed as many forms of transportation as possible. Waid added that he was concerned about the economic impact of the railroad's decision to cut back services since the Santa Fe was the single largest employer in the Belen area. Despite eleventh-hour efforts by Carter Waid and other concerned civic leaders, the railroad proceeded with its announced plans in Valencia County and in other parts of the state. The last Doodlebug run from Clovis to Carlsbad took place in 1967. The last scheduled passenger train stopped in Belen on April 9, 1968. A brief but impressive ceremony was held as that last train pulled into Belen on April 9. A small platform for speakers stood beside the train station, with both the U.S. and New Mexico flags displayed. The Belen High School band played what the press described as "appropriate music." John E. Aragon recalls that a large crowd filled the space between the Harvey House and the depot. A feeling of sadness prevailed as many realized that their community was about to lose an old, trusted friend. Others mourned the sudden loss of jobs for the Doodlebug's always-helpful crew. In addition to Superintendent of Schools Aragon, dignitaries included former mayor Earl Peter, Mrs. Stanley Hanan of the local historical society and State Rep. Boni Tabet. The last train arrived on schedule at 10 a.m. Earl Peter and John Aragon made a few short remarks. Fifteen minutes later, the brief ceremony concluded and the train departed. It was as if the little train had proudly attended its own wake before pulling out of town and moving unobtrusively into history. All present knew that an era of Valencia County history had passed. Without the Doodlebug and other passenger trains, the Los Lunas depot closed without fanfare. The Belen depot remains open today, but only as an office for the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway freight business. The Doodlebug itself was placed in storage and is currently awaiting remodeling so that it can be placed on display at the Sacramento Railroad Museum in California. But Rosemary Gallegos Armijo and others still remember the Doodlebug, or La Marranita, as it was years ago. Recalling her childhood memories in Belen, Rosemary wrote a poem about her favorite train when it went as far as Socorro and employed Anglo conductors who were never quite sure how to pronounce local town names. Rosemary spoke for thousands of grateful — and amused — former passengers when she wrote: I feel the rhythm of the rails, I hear the whistle blow. As it breezes with the wind, The pig knows where to go. Approaching the city of Belén, I hear the conductor's song, "Ba-a-a-len, Ba-a-a-len!" Drifting on to Socorro, We hear his song again, "Sa-a-a-ca-row, Sa-a-a-ca-row!" Far into the distance We see the black smoke flow. This little pig knows where to go. (Dr. Richard Melzer is a history professor at the Valencia Campus and vice president of the Valencia County Historical Society.)
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