Gerald M. Best

Gerald M. Best (1895–1985) was a noted railroad historian, writer, photographer, and one of the top sound engineers in the motion picture industry.

[1] After receiving an electrical engineering degree from Cornell, Best served in the Army Signal Corps, worked for AT&T, and then went to work for Warner Brothers in 1928, where his knowledge of sound technology was very useful as the age of talking pictures began.

In 1958, he went to work for Walt Disney, taking responsibility for Disneyland’s railroad.

Under his guidance as Engineering Consultant and National Park Service Representative, the National Park Service ordered the construction of two steam locomotives by O'Connor Engineering Laboratories as replicas of the famous Central Pacific Jupiter and Union Pacific No.

After his death, his widow, Harriet, arranged for it to go to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.