"REPORT" Issue 141, December 1977, Page 7, Last two paragraphs
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
by Tanya Rose
Dick Pennick has informed me that member Christian Brown, former steam locomotive engineer for the SD&AE and Coronado Railroad is passing the Holidays in the La Mesa Convalescent Hospital. He was born November 11, 1886 and started his railroading clear back in 1906. PSRMA is indeed fortunate to have his support; he's one hogger who has seen it all from the days of steam when you railroaded by the seat of your pants to the present era of diesel power. Such and old timer is a valuable asset to the Museum.
At this special time of year when we are once again reminded of the love we should be sharing with one another, I know many of us will include him in our thoughts, wishing for him a speedy recovery. Why not take a moment of your time to brighten his Holiday and yours by sending him Season's Greetings. His address is: La Mesa Convalescent Hospital, Room 29, 7800 Parkway Drive, La Mesa, California 92041. Bless you all. May you have a beutiful, joyous Holiday!
"REPORT" Issue 142, January 1978
CHRISTIAN N. BROWN, Nov. 19, 1888 - Jan. 7, 1978
On January 7th, just before noon, a pioneer San Diego railroad man was called for his final run by the Great Dispatcher in the Sky. C. N. Brown, retired SD&AE locomotive engineer and an esteemed member of PSRMA, passed away in a local hospital after prolonged ill health. He was 91. Although the man is gone, the memory of his accomplishments will remain for many years to come. Born on a farm in Denmark, "Brownie" emigrated to San Diego in November, 1904 at the age of seventeen. He spent the next nineteen months in the saddle as a ranch hand, herding cattle all over the flats between Old Town and Point Loma. In 1906, he had had enough of ranching and went to work for a local contractor during which time he helped grade and surface India Street and tear down the old bridge in Brickyard Canyon. Later he went to work for the old Standard Iron Works, which finally went out of business in the 1960's.
In the fall of 1906, Brownie applied for a railroad job with E. A. Hornbeck, General Manager of the San Diego, Cuyamaca and Eastern and the National City and Otay railroads. Hornbeck hired him as a locomotive fireman and assigned him to veteran engineer Guy Roberts for his student trips. At this time, all NC&O engines and most of the cars still had bone-crushing link-and-pin couplings. Brown made many trips out Bonita Valley to La Presa (now part of Spring Valley) and Tia Juana (now San Ysidro) on the road's tiny saddle tankers.
After his promotion to the right-hand side in February, 1909, he narrowly escaped death in a switching accident at Chula Vista. By this time, the NC&O had been consolidated with one of the other Spreckels Company lines, the Coronado Railroad, to form the San Diego Southern. A car of sand had been picked up at a sand pit in the Tia Juana Riverbed. At Chula Vista Station, a stop was made to do some switching and pick up several cars of lemons. The heavy carload of sand was set out on the mainline, on a slight grade, and the brakes set. Brownie and his crew then took the engine and an empty gondola car down to the depot to pick up the lemon cars. He had stopped just short of the switch to allow the brakeman to line it for the siding, when a young boy watching nearby yelled at them. Brown swiveled around on the seatbox just in time to see the carload of sand gaining speed down the grade toward them! Evidently the brakeman hadn't set the brakes tightly enough on the heavily loaded car. Brownie and his fireman barely had time to dive to the floor of the cab next to the firebox door before the car collided with the empty wooden gondola. There was a terrific crash and a rending of wood as the gondola's body was ripped from its trucks and catapulted skyward, tearing off the cab roof on the way. When the dust had settled, the gondola body was leaning against the remains of the engine cab and two slightly disheveled enginemen were alive and well! The fireman had suffered only a small cut on the chin from broken window glass.
One of Brownie's first jobs as a fledgling engineer was hauling rock from the quarry at Sweetwater Dam to North Island to build the jetty. He also was accorded the honor of hauling Edward H. Harriman's special train from the Santa Fe Interchange at National City over the Coronado Railroad to the Hotel del, where the railroad magnate was to meet with John D. Spreckels regarding financing for construction of the SD&A. Harriman's private secretary gave Brown and each of his trainmen a $5 gold piece as a tip when they arrived.
In 1917, Brownie went to work for the new SD&A which was then blasting its way through the brutal and capricious Carriso Gorge. He served on work trains as well as local runs, operating steam trains and the G.E. gas cars to Lakeside and the race track at Tijuana.
Brownie was at the throttle in early 1932 with a westbound passenger train, winding slowly upgrade through Carriso Gorge. Near Tunnel 15, the maintenance foreman flagged him down to tell him the mountain had started to move, squeezing the tunnel timbers so that only the minimum clearance remained. Brown decided to chance it and proceeded slowly through the twisted bore, the Pullman clearing the damaged timbers by a mere three inches! The next day, the mountain came down taking part of the tunnel with it! After this, the track was realigned to the west and a new, shorter tunnel constructed. A 185 foot high, 633 foot long curved timber trestle was built to carry the new line over Goat Canyon. After the new span was completed, but before the deck planking was in place, Brown and his fireman Ed Pohle were called upon to run their engine light over it as a test. As the steamer crawled out on the bridge, the new timbers creaked and settled under the unaccustomed load, and the absence of planking allowed the two tense enginemen to look down, way down, to the bottom of the rocky-ravine almost two hundred feet below. Pohle's hand noticeably trembled as it rested on the firing valve. In a few minutes, it was over.
Brownie went on to pull the final SD&AE passenger train on January 11, 1951, with S.P. class T-32 steam locomotive number 2373 on the point. His fireman on that sad day was E. J. Rankin.
In July, 1955, after forty-nine and a half years of service without a reportable injury, he hung up his Union-made engineers's cap for the last time. In that half-century of railroading, he had worked for no less than five different railroad corporate entities, all in San Diego County.
He will be missed, but so will he be remembered.
Dick Pennick
