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On April 1, Stanley McLaughlin retired from Union Pacific Railroad, ending a 34-year engineering career with the Class I.

Most recently vice president of quality and process improvement — a position he held since September 1998 — McLaughlin headed efforts to implement UP’s "Performance Excellence” principle, as well as "cost of quality," "Six Sigma” and "ISO certification" initiatives.

After joining UP in 1971, he held various field engineering and line management positions, including division engineer, district engineer and assistant chief engineer. Later, McLaughlin was named chief engineer, becoming the youngest in UP’s history.

Between 1985 and 1998, he held stints as chief engineering officer and vice president during UP’s mergers with the Missouri Pacific, Western Pacific, Missouri-Kansas-Texas, Chicago & North Western, and Southern Pacific railroads.

During his tenure, McLaughlin was responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of track, bridges, buildings, signals and other fixed facilities.

Since 1972, McLaughlin has been a member of the American Railway Engineering Maintenance Association (AREMA). A member of the association’s board from 1985 to 1991, and 1992 to 1995, he served as AREMA president from 1988 to 1989. He also held a stint as chairman of the Association of American Railroads' Engineering Division from 1988 to 1989.