I had always thought that...although this confirmed it. I had heard Charles Clegg referred to as Lucius Beebe's "partner" or "companion" which sounded suspicious. Although Clegg was Beebe's colleague in terms of writing books, it seemed unusual to refer to Clegg as that and they also toured railroads and shared a private railcar.
I had also heard that Lucius Beebe committed suicide, but can't remember where. I had never seen this before.
I have two of Beebe's books, one is a reprint of the Virginia & Truckee (although I did find an autographed copy in a library, signed by Beebe himself, in hardcover from the 50s or 60s. They wanted over $100 for it, and plus it was all marked up for library use) and the other is on the last days of steam although I forget the title. I do not have it with me.
The Virginia & Truckee is one of my side interests so Beebe's work is something I find quite interesting. I have made many many trips to Carson City and Virginia City to see the remains of the railroad. I have good memories of trips from our home in the Bay Area up there. We would always stop at the Nut Tree and ride their 24" gauge Hurlbut train (not steam). When that quit running we would stop at Cameron Park where a 30" gauge Arrow Development steam profile ran around a shopping center called Burke's Junction (also where the Amtrak bus stops). We'd usually stay at Northstar or Chinquapin in Tahoe and do day trips to railroad sites over in Nevada. Truckee, California is still one of my favorite places to visit, and railroad-related merchandise can be found in most of the shops in town. Around 1996 or so they even opened up a train store in town which had a nice selection of magazines. I bought "Live Steam" there the last time I was in Truckee in Dec. 2001 (my last visit there...and coincidentally the last Live Steam that I purchased).
Unfortunately we only visited Truckee in the winter and never when they had the "Truckee Railroad Days" event where even the UP #4466 steamer visited. Although the Virginia & Truckee never ran through Truckee, there is still a lot of Central Pacific/Southern Pacific history there. The station serves as a museum too and has several photographs on display. A gift shop sells a small selection of railroad merchandise.
I feel like I have gone off on too much of a tangent now...oh well at least if you ever go from the Bay Area to the Reno/Tahoe area you will know some side places to visit...
I'm linking a photo of the only roadside attraction train now on the way to Tahoe. Although not authentic railroad equipment, it runs on rails and is historic in the fact that it is one of less than 40 trains built by the Arrow Development company, which was at its height in the early 90s the biggest name in the amusement industry. It ran at Frontier Village in San Jose, CA.
-Ed Kelley
GTNGRR@aol.com