OUR SYMPATHY
Deaths in SP Family
OTHER DEPARTMENTS
Ynez Chabez, track laborer, San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway Company.
February, Page 31
PROMOTIONS
SD&AE Railway CO.: W. B. Barker, to assistant superintendent, San Diego.
March, Page 34
DEATHS
OTHER DEPARTMENTS:
Pensioners: William Eldridge, engineer, San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway Company.
June/July, Page 28 and 29
Carl Eichenlaub Retires After Long Career
Carl M. Eichenlaub, superintendent of the San Diego & Arizona Eastern since 1954, retired on May 31 after 47 years' service with the "railroad under two flags."
Named to succeed him was W. B. Barker, with headquarters in San Diego.
When Eichenlaub went to work as an office boy in 1914 for Chief Engineer E. J. Kallright the SD&AE had been under construction for six years and had reached 60 miles eastward from San Diego. With SP assisting the founding Spreckels interests, work continued on through WWI, John D. Spreckels driving the last spike in Carriso Gorge in 1919.
SP became sole owner of the railroad - and acquired Eichenlaub in the bargain - in 1933. The line had been one of the last pieces of major railroad construction in the United States, and one of the most difficult to build. Today its main line between San Diego and El Centro, including the 44-mile Mexican subsidiary Tijuana & Tecate Railway, stretches 147 miles to its SP junction to provide the shortest rail route east from San Diego. And no one knows this rugged route better than the SD&AE's veteran and colorful retiring superintendent. There is probably no one more familiar with San Diego County from a saddle than Carl.
He is a California registered civil and structural engineer, having obtained his engineering schooling through correspondence and night classes. Another of his interests is sailing. He is a member, and past Commodore of Mission Bay Yacht Club at San Diego.
Barker has been on the SD&AE since January, with title of assistant superintendent, familiarizing himself with the duties of the top operating position.
Since 1952, Barker had been general manager of the Nacozari Rail Road, a separately operated but SP - affiliated company in the Mexican state of Sonora. He first joined the former Southern Pacific de Mexico Railroad in 1925 as a rodman. By 1937 he had advanced to chief engineer.He became assistant to the president in 1949 and when the Mexican government purchsed the line in 1951 he remained with it temporarily as consultant to the new owners.
His eldest son, George Barker, a graduate engineer, works for the Mechanical Department in San Francisco.
A freight train winds its way along a shelf among the barren rocks of Carriso Gorge on the San Diego & Arizona Eastern. Retiring Superintendent Carl Eichenlaub probably knows this rugged route better than anyone on the railroad.
August, Page 32
RECENT RETIREES
OTHER DEPARTMENTS
Virgil L. Lamson, conductor, San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway Company.
August, Page 34
DEATH
OTHER DEPARTMENTS
Pensioners: Sebastian A. Lamey, superintendent; Nicholas Specht, boilermaker; both San Diego & Arizona Eastern.
September, Page 32
RECENT RETIREES
OTHER DEPARTMENTS:
Genovevo N. Sanchez, extra gang laborer; Albert E, Wilson, B&B cook, both San Diego & Arizona Eastern.
October, Page 31
OLD FRIENDS RETIRE. Two locomotive engineers retired recently from the San Diego &
Arizona Eastern without having a single reportable injury during their careers.
L. E. Norse, left, had more than 45 years service, and R. L. Neill had nearly 40 years with the company.
November, Page 34
DEATHS
OTHER DEPARTMENTS
Elmer C. Goforth, conductor, San Diego & Arizona Eastern.
December, Page 33
RECENT RETIREES
OTHER DEPARTMENTS
Lloyd E. Norse, locomotive engineer; Robert L. Neill, locomotive engineer, both of SD&AE Railway Company.
December, Page 34
DEATHS
OTHER DEPARTMENTS
Pensioners: Harry Ford Crothers, brakeman, SD&AE Railway Company.
