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Inventory of the John "Jack" Frasier Weiffenbach Collection, 1936-1956
MS 50
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Title: John "Jack" Frasier Weiffenbach Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1936-1956
Collection number: MS 50
Creator:
Weiffenbach, John "Jack" Frasier
Extent: 6 boxes
Repository:
California State Railroad Museum Library
Sacramento, California 95814
Shelf location: Big Four Building or off-site storage. Please contact
the Library in advance of your visit.
Language:
English.
Gift of Florence V. Weiffenbach, 1991
Copyright has not been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. All requests for
permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Senior
Curator. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the CSRM as the owner of the
physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder,
which must also be obtained by the reader.
[Identification of item], John "Jack" Frasier Weiffenbach Collection, MS 50, California State Railroad Museum Library, Sacramento,
California.
The papers in this collection concern Mr. Weiffenbach's activities with Electro-Motive Division, Fairbanks, Morse, and Canadian
Locomotive Company. The papers are primarily handwritten notes and a few drawings, with many internal memoranda, carbons of
letters, and curve charts. Mr. Weiffenbach also kept a few formal reports and some folders of clippings.
The body of papers covers the development of the diesel-electric locomotive. Some folders are devoted to specific models (F3)
or lines ("C" line), while others investigate a particular problem, such as braking. A few folders contain personal papers
such as letters of congratulations to Mr. Weiffenbach sent by his peers upon his promotion to Vice President at Canadian Locomotive
Company.
John "Jack" Frasier Weiffenbach (1910-1991) was born in Chicago on November 20, 1910. He graduated from the University of
Michigan with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1934. From November 1934 to August 1946, he worked
as a locomotive development engineer at the Electro-Motive Division, General Motors Corporation. From August 1946 to July
1949, he was Chief Engineer of the Railroad Division at Fairbanks, Morse & Company. He became Director of Engineering at the
Beliot (Wisconsin) Works of Fairbanks, Morse in July 1949. In April 1951 he was promoted to Vice President, Manufacturing
and Director of the Canadian Locomotive Company in Kingston (Ontario), holding that post until January 1953, when he transferred
to Director of Engineering with Fairbanks, Morse & Company in Chicago.
He left Fairbanks, Morse in September 1956 to be Corporate Director of Research and Engineering for Borg-Warner Corporation.
He left Borg-Warner in June 1961 to be Vice President of Engineering at the Trailmobile Division, Pullman Inc. From 1963 until
his retirement in 1975, he worked in the Winchester-Western Division of Olin Corporation. Mr. Weiffenbach died at his home
in Branford, Connecticut on April 22, 1991.