Guide to the Elbert "Ed" E. Gleason Papers MS 686
Library & Archives staff
California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives
2023
Contributing Institution:
California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives
Title: Elbert "Ed" E. Gleason papers
Identifier/Call Number: MS 686
Physical Description:
2 Linear Feet
2 record cartons
Date (inclusive): 1905-1968
Abstract: These papers document the career of Western Pacific Railroad Chief Mechanical Officer Elbert E. Gleason and the role of WP
Vice-President and Chief Engineer Virgil G. Bogue in the construction of the Western Pacific Railroad, 1905-190l9.
Physical Location: Statewide Museum Collections Center: I2.212.V4
Language of Material:
English
.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research by appointment. Contact Library Staff
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Bruce MacGregor, 2023
Arrangement
The Elbert "Ed" E. Gleason Papers have been arranged into the following series:
Series 1. Elbert "Ed" E. Gleason Papers
Series 2. Virgil G. Bogue (VP & Chief Engineer, WP) Records
Biography
Elbert E. Gleason entered Western Pacific Railroad service as a roundhouse clerk on July 9, 1911 in Oakland and retired after
34 years in 1954 as the company's Chief Mechanical Officer.
Elbert E. Gleason was born near Marysville in Yuba County, California on October 17, 1889. He spent his early years on a
farm and spent several years at sawmill and logging work in the forests of California, serving as a sawmill and logging donkey
engineer at Brandy City Mining Co. Based in Sacramento, while making his way up through the ranks at Western Pacific, he
was a general draftsman (from July 1911), shop clerk, draftsman (1913-1916), acting and chief draftsman of the mechanical
department (from August 1916), mechanical engineer (from September 1923), Assistant Superintendent of Motive Power (from January
1928), Master Mechanic, Western Division (from June 1939), Mechanical Engineer, Western Division (in July 1941), Superintendent
of Motive Power (April 1949) and Chief Mechanical Officer (December 1, 1950). He continued in this position until he retired
on November 1, 1954.
Highlights of his career include management of WP's motive power programs in the 1940s and early 1950s, and mechanical oversight
for the WP's adoption of the "California Zephyr" in 1949. He was a member of the Lion s Club, The Boy Scouts of America, the
Locomotive Maintenance Officers Association, and the Pacific Railway Club.
Mr. Gleason married Irene Haydon on July 20, 1911 and had two children: Frances Louise MacGregor and Bette Elberta. He died
in August 1969.
[Excerpt of the biographical sketch written by E.E. Gleason for the WESTERN PACIFIC REPORTER (company newsletter) and dated
Jan. 20, 1949.
Related Collections
Additional papers of Virgil G. Bogue can be found in MS 43 Western Pacific Railroad Collection, Record Group 5, and MS 17
Gilbert Harold Kneiss Collection, Series 1 and MS 31 Louis Lorenz Stein Collection, Series 3.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Elbert E. Gleason Papers, MS 686, California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives, Sacramento,
California.
Scope and Contents
This collection includes correspondence, railroad passes, photographs, detailed salary and employment information, clippings,
and membership cards pertaining to the career of Elbert "Ed" Gleason with Western Pacific (WP) Railroad. Also includes photocopies
of select files from the office of WP Vice-President and Chief Engineer Virgil Gay Bogue documenting the construction of the
railroad between 1905 and 1909.
Separated Materials
The following items from this collection have been transferred to the CSRM Artifact Collection:
Locomotive bell for WP locomotive No. 24, built by Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1882
Train arrival board from Fremont (previously Niles), California depot
Pair of demitasse coffee cups from "California Zephyr" train
"Exposition flyer" tea pot
Western Pacific canvas display logo
3 builders plates for WP locomotives 203, 257 and 483
Color-coded maintenance status blocks
"Western Pacific via Feather River Canyon" is stored in SMCC flat file 145.
The book WORTHINGTON PUMP HANDBOOD: DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION OF ALL COMMERCIAL TYPES OF PUMPS. New York: Worthington
Pump and Machinery Corp., 1927 has been added to our Library catalog.
The following drawings have been removed from the Gleason collection and added to the CSRM maps and drawings:
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright has been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. Permission for publication must be submitted in writing
to the CSRM Library amp; Archives.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Bogue, Virgil Gay, 1846-1916
Western Pacific Railroad Company
Series 1: Elbert "Ed" E. Gleason Papers, 1908-1969
Arrangement
Arranged by type of material.
Scope and Contents
Includes correspondence and news clippings about his promotions and his retirement in 1954, his obituary which appeared in
the Western Pacific Railroad employee magazine MILEPOSTS, a catalog of diesel electric color schemes, a Ryerson Steel-Service
catalog with a monogrammed cover, and some menus and a poster from the train CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR, which Mr. Gleason worked on
the mechanical oversight for its development. There are railroad passes belonging to Mr. Gleason and his wife issued by Western
Pacific Railroad and its subsidiaries Tidewater Southern, Sacramento Northern, and San Franciso-Sacramento, and other railroads
including Indian Valley, Union Pacific, Pullman, and Western Union. Membership cards indicate that Mr. Gleason was active
in several organizations, including the Lion s Club, the Boy Scouts of America, the Locomotive Maintenance Officers Association,
and the Pacific Railway Club. A file about his employment history and salary includes a detailed historical record and timebook
that lists all his promotions, transfers, and salary increases. This document includes information about his preceding employment
at Brandy City Mining Co. from 1908-1911 and includes a certificate of his certification as a professional engineer in mechanical
engineering from 1949.
Photographs in the collection show Western Pacific's first passenger train run in 1910, its locomotives, and rolling stock.
There are portraits of employees of the Sacramento shops taken in 1936 that show blacksmiths, boilermakers, carmen, pipefitters,
and shop foremen, as well as and a 1920 photo of the drafting room "gang, and employees of the following shops: coach, machine
& erecting, office and store. A few photographs include Ed Gleason.
box 1, folder 2
Clippings, employment history, 1945-1969
box 1, Folder 3
Clippings, retirement, 1954
box 1, Folder 4-5
Correspondence, congratulations on appointment as Superintendent of Motive Power, 1949
box 1, folder 6-7
Correspondence, congratulations on retirement, 1954
box 1, folder 8
Diesel electric color schemes, 1944-1946
box 1, Folder 9
Employment history and salary, 1908-1953
box 1, folder 10
Ephemera, "California Zephyr" dining
case ?
Mechanical drawing folio, Polytechnic College of Engineering, circa 1911
box 1, Folder 11
Membership cards, 1937-1968
box 1
Photographs and negatives:
box 1, folder 17
Gold Spike 40th Anniversary
box 1, folder 20
Maintenance of Way, Crane
case 153
Poster, the "California Zephyr" in the Feather River Canyon
box 1, folder 28
Trade catalog, Ryerson Steel-Service, 1924
Series 2: Virgil G. Bogue (VP and Chief Engineer, WP) Records, 1905-1909
Scope and Contents
In 1905, Virgil G. Bogue became Vice-President and Chief Engineer for the Western Pacific Railroad. He held this position
during the early construction of the railroad until his retirement was announced by WP President Edward T. Jeffery on February
3, 1910. This collection includes photocopies of his official files at Western Pacific Railroad. These records include photocopies
of the records of Western Pacific Railway Vice President and Chief Engineer Virgil Bogue. Includes correspondence from Thomas
J. Wyche who reports on the general conditions and progress on the track building, and WP President Edward Turner Jeffery,
who comments on the construction.
Other files include monthly narrative reports, mid-monthly reports of construction, semi-monthly reports, and weekly construction
reports by Western Pacific division engineers Emory Oliver (North Fork Division), J. T. Williams (San Francisco Division),
and J. Q. Jamieson (Sierra Division). May include statements showing number of days / employee hours and information about
gangs (name of foreman) used to complete the work. Inspection trips of the VP and Chief Engineers file includes correspondence
to and from Virgil Bogue with his office in San Francisco while he was conducting track inspection. Another file titled finance
& expenditures contains copies of correspondence relative to the movement of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Commission,
set up to examine the financial obligations of D&RGW to Western Pacific. There is a file about the construction of wagon roads
during the construction of the railroad.
Additional Virgil Bogue records are available in MS 43 Western Pacific Collection, Record Group 5, Series 1, MS 17 Gilbert
Harold Kneiss Collection, Series 1 and MS 31 Louis Lorenz Stein, Jr. Collection, Series 3.
box 1, folder 29-31
Construction contract for the Western Pacific line from Deeth, Nevada to western edge of the Salt Lake desert, 1906
box 1, folder 32-34
Construction work, general
box 1, Folder 35-40
Construction, T. Wyche and Charles Harlowe (Salt Lake Division), Sep. 1905 - Oct. 1908
box 2, Folder 1-2
Correspondence from Western Pacific Railroad President Edward T. Jeffery, Jan. - May 1907
box 2, Folder 3-8
Division engineers monthly narrative reports, Jun. 1907 - Sep. 1909
box 2, folder 9-10
Finance and expenditures, Jul. - Sep. 1908
box 2, folder 11-15
Inspection trips of the Vice-President and Chief Engineer, Jul. 1909 - Oct. 1909
box 2, folder 16
Mid-monthly report of construction, J. Q. Jamieson (Sierra Division), Dec. 1907 - Dec. 1909
box 2, folder 17-18
Mid-monthly report of construction, Emery Oliver (North Fork Division), Sep. 1907 - Aug. 1909
box 2, Folder 19
Mid-monthly report of construction, J. T. Williams (San Francisco Division), Dec. 1908 - Jul. 1909
box 2, folder 20
Operating trains in general, Aug. - Dec. 1909
box 2, Folder 21-22
Semi-monthly reports, Jan. 1906 - Apr. 1906
box 2, folder 23
Wagon roads, general, 1905-1907
box 2, Folder 24
Weekly construction reports, J. Q. Jamieson (Sierra Division), Dec. 1908, Mar. 1909
box 2, Folder 25
Weekly construction reports, J. T. Williams (San Francisco Division), Jun. 1907 - Dec. 1908
