Bio: Nystad, Peter (Retirement - 1958)

Contact: Audrey Roedl

Email: audero@charter.net

----Source: The Loyal Tribune (Loyal, Clark County, WI 08 May 1958)

Nystad, Peter (1958)

Forty one years of service with the Soo Railroad was the record established by Peter Nystad, 67, upon his retirement last week following curtailment of section crew operations here in Loyal.

With the past 25 of these years spent in Loyal, Pete can recall only one wreck on this spur line track which runs from Marshfield to Greenwood. That occurred on a Memorial Day years ago when one car jumped the track about a mile and a half this side of Greenwood. Naturally he was oe of the crew called out to make repairs.

Only one other mishap of any consequence is recalled by Pete and this occurred several years ago here in Loyal when someone neglected to take a parking block from the track. An engine hooked onto the car and somehow the block tipped the car right over on its back on the spur track near the Lakeshire Marty plant. A wrecker had to be called in to put the car on the tracks again but no damage was suffered by the rails.

Pete was born in 1890 in Tromso, Norway and at the age of 13 took to the seas in fishing vessels. He can remember spending a pair of years in the Artic, about 15 degrees from the North Pole. He also recalls some of the severe storms his ship encountered on some of the voyages-one time when he and the captain were on their feet, the rest suffering from seasickness.

It was in 1910 that he came to America and not afterwards on the 16 of April 1917, to be exact, his career with the Soo Railroad began at Colfax where he was employed as section laborer. From there he was transferred to Park Falls and in 1922 went to Bessemer, Mich. as foreman. In 1936 he moved to Marshfield and from there moved to Loyal in 1932. With exception of several months layoff during 1920, his duty has been continuous from the start.

Pete is the father of 11 children include Mrs. Leonard (Margaret) Noeldner, Julius Nystad, Mrs. James (Pearl) Ursin, Wausau, Mrs. Gordon (Violet) Finet, Wausau, Dennis O. Nystad, Minneapolis, Leonard Nystad, Highland Park, Ill., Mrs. Wilbur (Wanda) Auth, Colfax, Mrs. Jason (Mary) Brantlinger, Phoenix, Ariz., Mrs. Dale (Jeanne)mRockstad. Eau Claire.

His future plans call for a nice rest now here in Loyal with a little fixing up here and there and a bit of fishing thrown in now and then.