Railroaders' Nostalgia > Ed Graham's passing

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We are sad to note that Edward (Ed) Graham passed away yesterday, May 19 from complications relating to the heart with family close by. He was 90 years young. Ed most recently attended the 150th anniversary of the driving of the Gold Spike at Promontory Utah and attended both the NRHS convention in Salt Lake City, Utah and The SP Historical and Technical Society convention in Ogden, Utah. He was one of the few people who stood up at the banquet on May 18 as having attended both the 100th as well as the 150th anniversary of the driving of the gold spike. Ed started out working as a teenager as a messenger for the Southern Pacific Railroad between Headquarters on Market Street and 3rd and Townsend in San Francisco. He rode the commutes from Redwood City or Menlo Park with his Dad who also worked for the S.P. They would sit with Claude E. Peterson who was the head of passenger operations for the S.P. and played cards during the trips.  Ed later worked as both passenger and freight agent at many of the S.P. Coast division depots from Palo Alto, CA to Colma, CA while in college. Ed was one of the few people left alive who had worked for the S.P. in the 1940’s. Ed also used the commutes to attend San Jose State College and later graduated from Stanford University with a Civil Engineering Degree. The S.P wasn’t hiring, so he took a job with Caltrans as and later became a manager in the Highway Engineering division. Once Ed retired, he was able to indulge his hobby of mileage collecting. Maybe he didn’t have the most in miles, but he had to be in the elite top group. He was a participant on many of Clark Johnson’s rare mileage trips aboard the Caritas in the U.S, Canada. and Mexico. He had ridden on railroads in 99 countries.  He was hoping to reach 100 different railroads with a trip to Ethiopia this fall, but alas, did not make it. Ed devoted his time and efforts to many groups. He was past President and most recently Vice President and National representative/Chapter Director for the Central Coast Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. He was the Convention Chairman for the 1992 NRHS convention where we brought the S.P. 4449, U.P. 3985, and S.P. 2472 locomotives to the convention for many days of mainline steam excursions. Ed was involved with the California Nevada Railroad Historical Society where he wrote the organization’s history. He was also a member of the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, Bay Area Electric Railway Association, the Lexington Group, and the Colma Historical Association which was involved with restoring the S.P Colma Railroad depot and shed.