Final Highball: Ed Mackinson

It is with a heavy heart to share the news that Southern Pacific Author, Historian, and Photographer Ed Mackinson passed away peacefully today after a brief battle with cancer. Ed and I were close personal friends and together authored two color pictorials on the Northwestern Pacific. We were working on two more books at the time of his passing and I will honor Ed by continuing in his memory.

Ed was born in Santa Rosa, California in 1956 and was a native of Sebastopol. He has fond memories of the Petaluma and Santa Rosa with their street running through town. Ed's grandmother indulged his likeness of railroading at an early age by gifting him railroad books such as Guy Dunscomb's Century of Southern Pacific Steam. Ed joined the Central Coast Railway Club as a teenager and met fellow railfans who shared his interests of Bay-Area railroading. These connections helped Ed expand his photography and hone his skills.

Ed was a professional railroader and hired out with the Western Pacific in Stockton in 1979. In the 1980s, he briefly worked for the Social Security Administration before joining Amtrak at Oakland in 1986. He was in train service as a conductor for many years working commute trains on the Capitol and San Joaquin corridors. Ed retired in 2016 after 38 years of railroading.

The Western Railway Museum became Ed's volunteer refuge as a young adult and he helped the museum grow its collection as it grew into one of the premier interurban railroad museums in the west. Ed was responsible for the operation of many popular excursions for the museum and helped increase their ridership. After retirement, Ed worked in the archives and was a leader in helping sort the museums slide collections. He also briefly served on the WRM Board of Directors.

Always wanting to be an author, Ed authored 15 book titles, all on railroad subjects in California. His color pictorials of diesel locomotives of the WP, Santa Fe, and Southern Pacific are excellent books of roster images. Ed's Trackside in Northern California and Santa Fe's Valley Division in Color are also excellent books featuring action photography.

Ed is survived by his wife Diana, their daughter Joanna, and many friends who loved him dearly. There were few people as knowledgeable of railroading in California as Ed Mackinson, and we will miss him dearly. Rest in Glory.