LBSC's Shop Shed & Road

Review
by J.D. McKenty, M.D., Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Model Railroader, October 1970

It is probable that the majority of steam-powered locomotives operating in the world today are 7-1/2 inch gauge or smaller. It is also probable that most of these engines were designed by the late LBSC, who, if for no other reason, would thus qualify as the world's foremost designer of steam locomotives.

LBSC was the pen name of L. "Curly" Lawrence, a onetime engine driver of England's London, Brighton & South Coast Railway. In the early 1920's he entered into a controversy in the letters column of Model Engineer magazine on the subject of small locomotive boilers. He proved his contention by building a 2-1/2 inch gauge coal-burning Atlantic named Ayesha which was not only superior to the so-called "scenic" steam locomotives of that period but which also astounded the modeling world by hauling him around on an elevated track, nonstop, for about 45 minutes.

He was engaged by Model Engineer in 1924 to write a short series of articles to explain his methods to readers. The series, with a few lapses, ended only with his death in 1967. He also wrote for several other British modeling magazines. During the 1930's he had a few articles in the old American magazine The Modelmaker. The magazine was later published by Kalmbach Publishing Co., and still later was sold to Penn Publications.

LBSC was a genius. He was opinionated, cranky, egotistical, and arbitrary -- with a tremendous psychological and anatomical hangup which even today remains a sort of secret with those who knew him -- but a genius: if you do it his way, it works. More than any other single person, though, he deserves credit for bringing the building and operation of small steam locomotives withing the reach of any modeler. Thousands of persons are operating first-attempt locomotives built to his instructions; thousands more -- myself included -- read his writings for pleasure.

His book LBSC's Shop Shed & Road does not describe any particular loco. It is a book about fittings and details for any small steam locomotive; it includes chapters on injectors, pumps, backhead fittings, valve gears, and lubricators. It was originally published in 1929 as The Live Steam Book. The 1969 edition, edited by Martin Lewis, has the additions of modernized drawings and two or three chapters of his later works. There are many pictures of his engines, some built by other modelers but many built by LBSC himself. The original prefaces have been retained, and a new section at the back lists the drawings available for 38 of his designs. The list is incompleted, however.

There is one flaw in the 1969 edition. The original edition included a photograph of LBSC. It is not included in new edition; but then, it wasn't a very good photograph -- the halo didn't show.