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Railroad Jack
A True StoryIt was dusk and the evening shadows were casting their eerie calm over the buildings and landscape as I found myself as a lad of about 16 in the old warehouse district of lower West Main in Zanesville, just across the tracks. Starting to make my way back to my car which was about a block away, there was suddenly the wailing whistle and rush of exhausted steam escaping from a locomotive! Looking in both directions there was no engine in sight, but as I glanced around in the shadows, standing by one of the old buildings was a figure which I knew in a moment was one of Zanesville's colorful characters, Homer Craig, better known by the people of the area as Railroad Jack. The man had lived in the area for as long as anyone could remember and by all accounts,having been injured as a child, he had spent all of his life around the steam engines and railroad cars simply enjoying the sights, sounds, smells and excitement of the monsters coming and going, in and out of the rail yards. He had learned as a youth to imitate the sounds of the steam engine to the extent that it would startle even the most avid railroader. I have often wondered whatever became of that silent, lonely figure who I saw that night. As I recall, he had iron gray hair at the time. This must have been about the end an era for both steam and Jack himself. Latest page update: made by LeilaN , 1 minute ago (about this update About This Update added photo - LeilaN 2 words deleted 1 image added view changes - complete history) More Info: links to this page if (GA_googleFillSlot) GA_googleFillSlot(wp_ads.center); Keyword tags Keyword tags: None There are no threads on this page. Be the first to start a new thread. Start a New Thread as Reply as LeilaN 
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Latest page update: made by LeilaN
, Apr 22 2008, 12:46 AM EDT
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Homer Craig
railroad
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| fschneider | Railroad Jack | 1 | Mar 2 2008, 7:20 PM EST by LeilaN | |
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Thread started: Mar 1 2008, 12:14 PM EST
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Jack evidently summered at Buckeye Lake Park. Here is what Donna Fisher Bragg writes about him in her Licking County History (see http://www.thisweeknews.com/?edition=LickingCounty&story=thisweeknews/032606/LickingCounty/News/032606-News-121897.html):
"Anyone who was around the park in the 1940s and '50s knew the man called Railroad Jack. He was a short man, ageless and very dark skinned. Most agree that he never bathed. He was very short, maybe 4-foot-6, and weighed about 80 or 90 pounds. He walked around with a cigar box under his arm. He was called Railroad Jack because he thought he was a train. Many times he wore a fireman's hat and would walk through the park, screaming, "Whoo Whoo." Jack was born Homer Craig after the turn of the century. Anytime I would look in the cigar box that he carried, he would have the bottom covered with coins. "Where he got his money, I am not sure. Where did he eat? I asked some old-timers at the lake, and all agreed that the food places at the park just gave him free food. He slept in the Bug Ride at the entrance to the park, but I am sure he had other spots. Jack was not at the park after 1945." Now, does anyone have stories about Zanesville's other "character", Nell Schrack? Here is mine. Nell used to stand in front of the Kraft Chese Plant at the foot of Dug Road saying "Kraft Cheese is good! Kraft Cheese is good!" over and over and over again. Finally, to get rid of her, someone would come out and give her a piece of Kraft Cheese. |
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