E. L. Brand

I had wanted to post this for Fathers' Day, but have been out of town.

We have been organizing things at my father's house in preparation for putting it on the market. I found a couple of photographs of my grandfather that I had never seen before.

He was born in Egypt Mills, Mo as Heinrich Eduard Ludwig Brandt, which was anglicized to Edward Louis Brand

The first shot was taken during the teens and shows him with his level. I wish that I knew the exact date and location. It's on the River Divsion, and that's as close as it gets. The track has rock ballast, but lacks tie plates. For that time period, the rail weight looks to be sufficient for "mainline" use. It may be the St Louis-Memphis mainline.

The second picture shows him in the office building at Chaffee. The Chaffee Ice House and Cold Storage calendar indicates that the date is October 1925. There are several interesting details. Note the peeling paint on the ceiling and the bare-bulb light fixtures. One wonders what treasures are stored in the large cabinets on the left. On the back wall hang a compliment of curve templates. These steel templates were scaled for 1"=100' and came in standard sizes, and were incremented for every 15 minutes as I recall.

Grandpa was named the River Division Engineer in 1928; the 72 car-length passing track at MP T-116 was named for him. He served as a division engineer in Chaffee, Tulsa, OKC, and Memphis. He finished his career in Springfield and helped with the building of the Kansas Street (West) Yards.

 

Keith - can't help myself; my age and background are showing up. They were cut from the same "bolt" of cloth. During the first 10-11 years of my life, my mother made my shirts from grain feed bags and "bolts" of cloth.
Very nice history from both of U guys - glad to hear about it.

 

That name change happened with others too. My GGgrandfather Henry Sanders (1870-1952)headlight man at the Chaffee roundhouse in the early 1900's, was also from that Egypt Mills area (Hanover(Prussia-Germany)Lutheran settlers). His real name was Heinrich Sander.

 

Boy, how very lucky you are! Old photos are like gold to a genealogist. That is my other passion. We are blessed in the family with TONS of old photos. I'll have to do some digging to see if I can find some more of my McGilvry family in Springfield. We had three loco engineers, two stationary engineers, and a maintenance man in the employ of the Frisco!
Keep digging!!
Dan

 

Thanks, Ken. The prints from large-format negatives scan into photo shop nicely. The detail that can be seen is amazing.

I tried conducting a bit of research to see if I could determine if the track in the photo was on the St Louis-Memphis mainline or on one of the many River Division secondary lines. The ICC records usually provide a brief description of the track where a derailment occurred, eg., rail weight, number of ties per panel, thickness of the ballast section, tie plates, and general track condition. The ICC Collection did not have any records that gave a track description from the teens. However reports from other parts of the Frisco did provide a clue or two. At this time it seems that the installation of tie plates was a new practice for the Frisco. It seems that on some mainline locations, there was a mix of plated and non-plated ties, and at other locations tie plates had not been installed.

From my 1914 Book of Rules for Maintenance of Way and Structures:

228. Metal tie plates are to be used on all treated ties on curves in main track. Main track curves are to be protected by metal tie plates as follows:

On class A track, 2 degrees and over.

On class B track, 4 degrees and over.

On class C track, 6 degrees and over.

229. Where metal tie plates are to be used, and it is practical, they should be applied when the rail is laid. On straight track and on curves of less than 6 degrees there shall be2 spikes in each tie plate (one inside and one ouutside). On curves of 6 degrees and over there shall be 2 spikes on the outside of the rail and one inside.

The Frisco made its own tie plates by cutting and punching boiler plate.

 

Chaffee was a small community and a railroad town. The Frisco was family, so no doubt that their paths crossed. My Grandmother Brand was a Litzelfelner from Neelys' Landing. She a had a slew of sisters, and they married the Burnetts, Whitfields, and Mirleys. One of the Whitfield's was a color-blind engine driver for the Frisco. They kept him on the branch lines. William Booke, the River Division B&B foreman was also a cousin to my Grandmother Brand.

I lived in Chaffee very briefly, when my father was the Hoxie Sub Roadmaster during the early 60's. I have fond memories from Chaffee.

You should check the Springfield-Greene County Library's digital collection of Frisco Employee Magazine for mention of your great grandfather.