In Wakefield, Mass.. I presume it is a memorial to the one we know.

http://www.wakefieldlibrary.org/
ryarger@rypn.org

If you go fishing in their website it turns out to be named after an early figure in the library's history, back in the mid 1800s. Sorry, wrong Beebe.


whitby@SPAMLESSerols.com

> If you go fishing in their website it turns
> out to be named after an early figure in the
> library's history, back in the mid 1800s.
> Sorry, wrong Beebe.

But named for the father and grandfather of our Beebe. Same family.

Who was Lucius Beebe?
eledbetter@rypn.org

The names Beebe and Clegg have been around a long time, but I never knew much biographically about them. Two chapters have been written in an interesting link below which say alot. It is also interesting what it does not mention... for instance, relationships with women. I wonder if theirs was an early public wink wink relationship that was never elaborated upon. Or is this idea completely unfounded? Not that it matters much, they are well regarded as probably the wealthiest and most extravagant railfans of their time, and they made valuable contributions to the appreciation of railroad history.

http://www.vcrail.com/history-vc/clegg/chapter1.ht

> I wonder if theirs
> was an early public wink wink relationship
> that was never elaborated upon. Or is this
> idea completely unfounded?

No, it's not unfounded and it's not really a secret any longer (heck, it never was a secret--just as you say, it was 'wink wink'). Charles Clegg was what today we'd call Beebe's Longtime Companion. They were romantic and life partners and by all accounts I've ever read quite devoted to one another.

eledbetter@rypn.org

Very interesting biographies here. It's nice to know more about these colorful characters, whose books were once about the only ones devoted to railroads on the local library shelf. Today, we have almost too much information about our favorite subject right at our fingertips, but fifty years ago the Beebe & Clegg books, as well as Railroad and Trains magazines, were our window to the world of railroads.

ryarger@rypn.org

> No, it's not unfounded and it's not really a
> secret any longer (heck, it never was a
> secret--just as you say, it was 'wink
> wink'). Charles Clegg was what today we'd
> call Beebe's Longtime Companion. They were
> romantic and life partners and by all
> accounts I've ever read quite devoted to one
> another.

More than 25 years ago I was clerking in the Orange Empire bookstore (back when I was the store manager) a senior citizen tour group came through. One of the women noted the Howell-North book "The Provacative Pen of Lucius Beebe" -- collected newspaper columns. I offered to get it down off the shelf and she declined stating that she had once lived in Virginia City when Beebe and Clegg lived there. She said. "Everyone knew what they were."

I understand that when Beebe died he left his estate to Clegg. When Clegg died his estate when to a sister. She arranged for a transfer of items to the California State Railroad Museum which is slowly processing the acquisition. As explained at the CSRM website:

"The photograph and negative collection of Lucius Beebe (1902-1966) and Charles Clegg (1916-1979) was acquired in 2000 through a combination of purchase and donation. The pair are perhaps the best-known and certainly among the most prolific authors and photographers to have graced the North American railroad scene. Secured from Charles Clegg's sister, Ann Clegg Holloway and her husband John E. Holloway, of Washington, D.C., the collection includes more than 11,000 photographs and over 4,000 original black and white negatives. Also included in the collection are prints from the collections of other well known railroad photographers such as Gerald Martin Best, Philip Ross Hastings, M.D., Fred Jukes, Stan Kistler, and Richard Steinheimer. Beebe was among the first popular authors to gain access to the Pullman Company archives and the collection includes many enlargements and contact prints of opulent cars built by Pullman. Contact the Library for more information regarding access to this collection."

Brian Norden

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

This Web page from University fo Nevada-Reno has a really impressive Beebe bibliography at the end if anyone wants to dig into Beebe and Clegg in detail:

http://www.library.unr.edu/friends/hallfame/beebe.html

Beebe bibliography
eledbetter@rypn.org