Earnest Steel

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 * Ernest A. Steel was born in London in 1904 and educated at Portsmouth, Bristol and Rochester. In 1918, he qualified as a student apprentice at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough. A transfer to the mechanical and civil engineering department enabled him to acquire a sound knowledge of locomotive and railway engineering practice, which was to prove of considerable value in later years.


 * In 1929, Ernest Steel married Elenora Greenly, daughter of the well-known locomotive and model engineer Henry Greenly. Mrs Steel produced the drawings for her father, and for the magazine The Locomotive and also for Greenly's Model Steam Locomotives. It was after his marriage that Mr. Steel's interest in model locomotive engineering was revived, though it was not till after World War II that he was able to take an active part in the hobby.


 * In 1960, when the unique and historic Ravenglass Railway was in danger of being closed down, Mr. Steel joined a group which contributed to its survival as a passenger-carrying railway in Cumbria. The author was a founder member of the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway Preservation Society, a member of the Heywood Society, the Institution of Mechanical and Technician Engineers and an associate of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.


 * He was also President of the STC (Paignton) Model and Engineering Society. Ernest Steel built up many contacts with model engineers abroad and lectured on the topic to various locomotive societies throughout England