In November, 1850, Mr. Barnard entered the railway service. He held various engineering and operating positions with the Grand Trunk Railway and its subsidiary lines in Lower Canada, and served as Chief Engineer of the Grand Trunk South of the St. Lawrence River for the last three years of his connection with that road.
In May, 1869, he went to the Missouri Valley Railroad as Superintendent and Chief Engineer. During the same year he was appointed Chief Engineer of the Kansas City-St. Joseph and Council Bluffs Railroad, and remained with this road and the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad (both now a part of the Burlington Missouri Lines), as Chief Engineer, General Superintendent, and General Manager, until 1886. During this time Mr. Barnard was also President of the Atchison Union Depot Company and the St. Joseph Union Stock Yards Company, Secretary and Treasurer of the St. Joseph Depot Company, and Director in various railroad companies.
In 1886, Mr. Barnard was appointed President and General Manager of the Ohio and Mississippi Railway, which position he occupied until 1892. From that time until 1893, he was engaged on several reports of projected railroads and appraisals of industrial and railroad properties.
From 1893 to 1898, Mr. Barnard was Receiver of the Omaha and St. Louis (now Wabash) Railway, during part of which time he was also President of the Alton Bridge Company, and Receiver of the St. Clair-Madison and St. Louis Belt Line.
In the spring of 1905 he moved to Los Angeles, Cal., where he lived until February 6th, 1910, when, after an illness of several months, he died at his home at the age of 81 years.
Mr. Barnard was elected a Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers on September 1st, 1880. He was also a Member of the American Geographical Society.
ROBERT L. ENGLE, M. Am. Soc. C. E. [2]
[2] Memoir prepared by O. E. Selby, Jun. Am. Soc. C. E.
Died October 16th, 1909.
Robert L. Engle was born on December 5th, 1846. He was a product of the time when opportunities for technical training were few, so that his engineering education was gained largely by contact with actual work. He began his professional career after the Civil War, in which he served for two years in the One Hundred and Forty-eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry.