I am said to report to you the loss of a very Dear Friend of mine, Donald D. Edmisten, 64, resident of Cordelia, Calif. on New Years Eve. Don died of a urinary tract infection the result of a stroke suffered last year. Don was a life long railroader who knew more about railroading then anyone on the planet. Don started his career fresh out of four years old college in the Management Training Program of the New Year Central. The NY Centrals program at that time in the mid to late 60's gave its trainees exposure to every aspect of railroading from the Boardroom to to the tie-gang. Don did it all and spent a lot of time around Ashtabula, Ohio and Elhcart, Indiana. Don rode a lot of trains as an assistant Train Master and put in a lot of 25 hour days trying to keep the NYC together with bailing wire and paper clips before the merger. The equipment was bad and the track even worse because of deferred maintenance He told me a story about riding the lead unit of 4 F-7's on a train out of Ashtabula, Ohio and hitting a broken rail. The unit he was riding in made it over, and the rest of the consist and the following 35 cars left the raILs in a general pile-up 8 cars high! The derailment happened in Farmer Joes pasture and his cattle started in drink the 30,000 gallons of de-natured alcohol coming from a punctured tank-car. By the time he got back to the burning wreckage, half the farmers cattle were staggering around in a general stupor. Don, born on the U.P. in Kearny, Nebraska moved west in 1968 after the program at NYC became another casualty on the Penn-Central Merger. Don next went to work for the late Max Howard, one of the most revered SP Trainmasters. SP named :"Howard" on the Cal. P. in his honor. Don occasionally made it over to the NWP and fell in love with the line. With long hours and low pay, a wife and a new daughter on the way, Don headed for AMTRAK and worked there for a number of years out of Oakland. He ended his life long career in railroading in the railroad compliance division of the PUC in Sacramento. It was there starting in 1982, that Don along with Railroad Advocate and FOUNDER of the NCRA Ruth Rockefeller along with Attorney Leo Quinn of the PUC, single handedly fought SP efforts to abandon the NWP and save it from the scrappers torch. This is his legacy and when the NEW history of the NWP is written, Dons efforts will be duly noted. Don wrote almost all of the PUC's response to SP arguments supporting the NWP abandonment. In the end, A Federal Judge denied the abandonment and ordered SP to repair the line and restore service. Bryan Whipple bought the North end and renamed it Eureka Southern. In 1990, Don was instrumental along with Ruth Rockefeller in getting the California State Legislature to pass a bill authorizing the formation of the NCRA as the public agency and steward of NWP. Don is survived by wife, Slyvia and Daughter Laura
Services are pending. Respectfully submitted, Mike Pechner