Home Page Forums Prototype and Historical Employees Erlich (SP?)

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  • #6031
    monikabidwill9523
    Participant

    Does anyone recognize the name Ehrlich (spelling may be wrong) from the first half of the 20th century; the first and middle initials may be C. F. The only other identifying item I have on the man is a claim that he was a “chief engineer,” whether that means in engine service or as a civil engineer, I don’t know. He was also, I believe, among the early members of the NMOT.

    The subject comes up because of a conversation I had with the man’s daughter yesterday; she is almost 100 years old and very sharp, but I didn’t have time to gather all the details about her father’s career with the MoPac, and her descriptive terms suffer from the dimming that comes with the passage of years. The conversation was a side-bar to a tour she was offering of her house in Ironton, a house that contains a vast collection of antiques, some few of which are directly connected to the RR.

    The conversation has naturally piqued my curiosity, and, though I intend to converse with her again on the topic (my wife and I have known her for years without knowing her family history), I thought I would ask here if more specific info is available here. I hope to be able to eventually PROVIDE information to the society, but anything I know before talking with her again will help increase the value of the questions I ask.

    One partial anecdote that may be of some value in identifying the man is that, when she was born (1927, I believe) there was a severe blizzard that had her father trapped in Nebraska so that he couldn’t make it back to St. Louis in time. Whether he was in engine service or supervising the clearing of the road I was not able to clarify.

    #9347
    princessclyne69
    Participant

    The title ‘chief engineer’ pretty much always means someone in engineering, not someone in engine service. It’s not used much any more, being more commonly replaced with titles like ‘engineering manager’ or similar. At that time, the different branches of engineering were not so differentiated, so he could have been responsible for all kinds of different engineering work. For that matter, about being stuck in Nebraska, he could have just been there or routine business when that blizzard shut things down.

    I would also note that there were and are so many people of German ancestry in St. Louis and downstate Missouri along the river that a guy named Ehrlich would be quite plausible. There was a publication called ‘Pocket List of Railroad Officials’ which listed all the significant officers and contacts for every North American railroad, and if he was a chief engineer, he’d probably be in it if could come up with one for the right timeframe.

    RG7

    #9348
    princessclyne69
    Participant

    Ha!

    I should have known — this publication still exists. It’s published quarterly, which was probably true in the 1920s also. Was and is published by the same company who produced the ORER and the Official Guide, which of course also still exist.

    I also did a quick search on eBay, and there are a lot of recent ones from the 1960s to 1990s, (which are still labeled as ‘vintage’ by some of the sellers), but not any earlier than 1936 or 1937. If he had a long career, he might actually be in one of those.

    RG7

    #9349
    monikabidwill9523
    Participant

    Thanks for that heads-up; I will search eBay for the book.

    I guess I must be vintage, too: turning 55 today with a 1964 build date ;)

    #9350
    peggyrothschild
    Participant

    Try this found on google search 1908. Cover shows Vol 14 so obviously this publication covers several decades.

    https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Pocket_List_of_Railroad_Officials.html?id=DIAIAAAAMAAJ

    #9351
    monikabidwill9523
    Participant

    Thanks for that link!

    I didn’t find his name in the MoPac listings (it would have been kinda early), but I did learn something about how to use the resource, and I can see lots of fun stuff to peruse.

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