Stewart, Harold

Harold Fiske Stewart, passed away on December 26, 2005. He was 83. Mr. Stewart was born on March 15, 1922 in Pasadena to Laura Mendenhall Fiske and Dr. Harold Fiske. Dr. Fiske passed away in 1925 and his widow married Albert I. Stewart in 1927. A.I. Stewart adopted Harold in 1928 and gave him and his family name. The senior Stewart was a lobbyist for Safeway Stores and later was elected a California State Assemblyman from Pasadena. At age 17, Mr. Stewart was hired by the Pacific Electric Railway as a statistical clerk and assistant research engineer in the Research Bureau. In 1943 he advanced to train service, his first love, as a passenger conductor and a locomotive fireman in freight service. Following two years of service with United States Army 303th Infantry Regiment during World War II, he returned to the Pacific Electric Railway. He became a motorman on the "Big Red Cars" serving Pasadena, Arcadia, Monrovia, Glendora and Sierra Madre. He had the distinction of running the last Pasadena Short Line car when passenger rail service between Pasadena and Los Angeles was halted in 1951. For a short period he drove Pacific Electric buses, then went into freight service as a locomotive engineer with the Southern Pacific Railroad. He remained in his capacity until his retirement in 2002 from the Union Pacific Railroad. (The Pacific Railway merged with the Southern Pacific Railroad which later merged with the Union Pacific Railroad). With a total of 60 years, Mr. Stewart had one of the longest continuous service records on the railroad. Mr. Stewart was an active member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, served on the Committee of Adjustment for railroad employees, and was Chairman of Division 887 for many years. He was an avid railroad historian and photographer-having taken on this avocation in his youth. He has had numerous images published in railroad and trolley related books and magazines and was interviewed for several historical videos. He spent most of his vacations traveling all over the United States, Mexico and Europe in search of steam locomotives and electric railways to photograph. Mr. Stewart was a long standing member of Pasadena First United Methodist Church where his mother had been a Charter Member. He was an active 32nd degree Mason.

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Donor files at Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive, obituary published in the Pasadena Star-News, January 8, 2006.