BANGKOK, Thailand — The body of Charles E. Ditlefsen, whose CEDCo Publishing Co. calendars featured a variety of railroad subjects, was found dismembered in a freezer in Thailand. He disappeared in 2008.
Ditlefsen, who was born in Hungary, was a transportation planner in Marin County, Calif. News reports from Thailand say Ditlefsen may have been killed by a passport fraud ring, which used his documents to embezzle funds from his bank accounts.
He started CEDCo in the 1970s, producing high-quality color calendars. Initially, the calendars featured railroad scenes, but he later expanded his offerings to include autos, aircraft, film stars, and ships. By 2003, CEDCo had grown into a $20 million business. The company suddenly closed without explanation in 2005.
In 1995, he wrote and published “Those Magnificent Trains,” a collection of photographs and text. Many of the photos in the book had been previously published in his calendars.
