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ranged the first of these, but let him introduce and sign off the biography in his own words. "Dear Frank: Enclosed is Jack Barriger's biography—from his wife (he doesn't know). March 30, 1961—Dear Russ: Here at long last is 'Jack Barriger, My Story' or 'The Taming of a Deke' or 'Along the Santa Fe Trail with J.W.B' or whatever. I'll start with a rundown of where Jack has worked and then go into his present activities. September, 1949—graduated M.I.T., B.S., XV-D. June, 1950—received a Certificate in Transportation at the Yale University Graduate School of Economics. The course in transportation was under Professor Kent T. Hearly. July, 1950, to March, 1952—Jack was a Traveling Car Agent based in Chicago. According to the information I have, he 'had' staff duties investigation freight car supply and distribution and observance of DDR Car Service Rules on Santa Fe Lines between Chicago and Denver, Albuquerque and Galveston. Obviously, he didn't spend much time in Chicago. March, 1952, to February, 1953—Transportation Inspection, Amarillo, Texas (working in the Texas Panhandle and Eastern New Mexico). From what I can gather, a T.I. spends a great deal of time working with shippers to prevent damage to freight. This is particularly important with perishables and products that are relatively fragile. I'm sure Jack saw a great deal of grain loaded when he worked in the Panhandle. A T.I. has another job too—and please keep in mind that the railroads have very few accidents (you see, I'm an advanced case of being brainwashed). They supervise the disposition of freight damaged in derailments. February, 1953, to June, 1954—Trainmaster at Carlsbad, N.M. I'll tell you where he has worked at this job and then at the end will tell you some of the responsibilities of the work. Anyway, this line serves the potash mines in the Pecos Valley. It runs from Clovis, N.M., to Pecos, Texas. June, 1954, to February, 1956—El Paso, Texas. Again a branch line but of greater size and importance, serving the Rio Grande Valley and the mines of southwestern New Mexico. I joined the party in El Paso, so from now on I can speak with the authority I don't really have. February, 1956, to April, 1958—Winslow, Ariz. Main line from Winslow to Albuquerque, N.M. There are just a few industries on this line, such as uranium mines and oil refining. Most of the effort was concentrated on getting trains through on time and in a hurry. When a man's office is 350-plus miles long, it means that he is gone 2/3 of the time. One year Jack was out of town 186 nights (according to his expense account) and, because so much work piled up at his Winslow office, he spent much of Saturday and Sunday there. Jack was virtually on duty all the time—and he was on call all the time. His hours were quite flexible. April, 1958, to now—Los Angeles, Calif., Terminal Division. At least now Jack has set hours, but oh boy! For the first year-and-a-half Jack worked from 7 P.M. to 7 A.M. for 12 days and then had a two-day weekend off. Now he works just the 12 daylight hours—still a 12-day week. A trainmaster is—I was about to say a little of everything, but I'm sure his job is more definite than that—in charge of the men who operate the railroad. The Santa Fe is divided into three departments: 1) Mechanical—in charge of building and maintaining cars and locomotives; 2) Engineering—in charge of construction and maintenance of the track and all that goes beside it (Boy, that's a general term!); 3) Operating—in charge of making up, breaking up, and operating the trains. No. 3 is where Jack comes in. In Los Angeles he supervises about 1,000 employees, such as conductors, engineers, brakemen, firemen, telegraph operators, agents, dispatchers, etc. Since he does the hiring and firing, he's also a bit of a father confessor. He has found lost wives (or husbands), helped (or firmly suggested that) men get on the wagon, has tried to help them straighten out financial problems, and all sorts of things like that. There are other little problems too—meeting the business cars of officers to see that they arrive with the greatest possible finesse, consoling perturbed customers, getting special trains out, moderating the difficulties the local chairmen of the unions seem to find. But in the final analysis, his job is to keep the trains moving efficiently. I don't know if you're interested in Jack's after hours—what there is of them—but he does do some things besides work. Both of us had friends in Los Angeles before we moved here and through them we have met more good friends. During the winter we ski as much as time and our budget will allow. Sailing is almost a year-round sport in southern California, but we go to Balboa mostly in the summer and fall. We don't own a boat—our next move may be to Kansas. We have both been taking courses at U.S.C and City College. We have taken a number of weekend trips to see this area—as one does when a transfer is imminent. Well, that's the story of good old Jack. Deke, our Weimaraner, and I would like to add an affectionate finis to this biography but we're afraid of getting too sentimental.—Evie.... Russ Cox completes his covering letter as follows: "Some additional notes are: He is one of four trainmasters in the Los Angeles yards. There are about 25 trainmasters on the entire Santa Fe. He was and may still be the youngest trainmaster on the Santa Fe. He is also an urban resident, and in L.A. this is unusual. Lives in a very attractive apartment downtown."

Next month another biography, this time arranged by Wally Row. If any of you gentle readers have nominations for characters to be included in this series, please send me a note, or better yet, dig out a biographical sketch yourself and send it along.—Frank T. Hulswit, Secretary, 14 Nadine Road, Saxonville, Mass.

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Dear Girls and Boys: I am sorry that no notes will appear in this issue; but yours truly (and the U.S. mail) goofed and failed to submit copy on time. C'est la.... P.S., please fire me for incompetence; no references needed for applicants.... See you next month (if I ever find out when the deadline is).—Martin Wohl, Secretary, Room 1-131, M.I.T., Cambridge, Mass. 

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Since I now have the title of assistant professor of mathematics, I decided to do a little calculating, free of charge, for the class, and unless I unwittingly introduced too large a round-off error, this turns out to be the beginning of our eighth year as alumni. Seventeen more years, and we'll be having our 25th reunion. It doesn't seem possible. Well, let's pick up our beards and see what's new.... The past summer saw a new crop of degrees for some of us. Stewart Smith and Jack Overley both acquired doctorates at Cal Tech, Stewart in geophysics and Jack in physics.... Ray Freeman received his doctorate in physics at Tech.... Charlie Leonard made off with an M.S. from the University of Vermont. And yours truly finally acquired a doctorate in mathematics at St. Louis University.

Art and Beverly Haines have a new daughter, Beverly Kyle, born August 6. The Haines's are currently at home in Atherton, Calif.... Elizabeth Clark Moroney has a daughter, Anne, born July 4, 1960. Elizabeth is working part-time as a technical writer for the Badger Manufacturing Company, Cambridge, Mass. She was, as far as I know, our only representative at Alumni Day last June 12.... Jean White Fisch also has a young daughter, Susan, born November 10, 1960. Jean is designing offices for the Time-Life Building in Rockefeller Center, New York, these days.... Paul Goldin, who toils for RCA, Camden, had a few words to say on "How RCA Meets AGREE Requirements" to the annual convention of the American Society for Quality Control on June 5.... Gordon Smith has been promoted to chief engineer of the Monitor and Control Division of Fenwal, Inc., Ashland, Mass.... Paul Spreiregen dropped us a note saying that he has been in Washington, D.C., since April, 1960, with the National Capitol Downtown Committee. He and his cronies on the committee, which is a private group, are trying to renew the area between the White House and Union Station in Washington. I wish them luck. And Paul, I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to see you before I left the Washington area, but your letter arrived in the middle of packing for the trip back here to St. Louis.... Our long-lost elder statesman, Dean Jacoby, has again emerged from the shadows, and reports that he is now back in Alton, Ill., where he and his brother have formed a small group to gain control of C. J. Jacoby and Company. He says there is no fantastic progress to date, but to keep our eyes on Fortune. Dean also mentions that he and Judith visited Dick and Charlee Wallace in Phoenix last April on their way to Mexico. The Wallaces, apparently, are surviving. And so, apparently, are Marcia and I. Our second offspring is due any  

November, 1961

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