| ENID OK April 13 1980 -- CRIP GP38-2 4346 is tied up at the Enid engine facility. This unit wears the name Navajo Nation. A quick trip to the Rock Island Technical site revealed this unit was originally named Senior Traveling Freight Agent. That name "recognized John W. Barriger, the widely respected rail official who was brought aboard to help turn the Rock Island around. The locomotive was to be named for Barriger, but he requested this name as an alternative. After John Barriger's death, locomotive 4346 was renamed Navaho Nation in June 1977. Navajo track crews, particularly rail relay gangs, handled much of the rebuilding efforts on the Sunbelt [Choctaw Route] line, and the Golden State line." (quote taken from RITS web site) |