IBLS Journal 1934

October
The second annual BLS meet was held at Carl Purinton's home, 251 Pleasant Street, Marblehead, Mass, on Sunday, 14 October 1934.



Report
Charles A. Purinton

The Miniature Locomotive, September-October 1953

In The Miniature Locomotive for July-August 1952 I told a little about the first BLS meeting in 1933 and at which there were fifteen Live Steamers present with nine exhibits, five of them in operation. The second annual meeting was also held in Marblehead on October 14, 1934. It was very evident at this one that the interest was growing as shown by the new faces on hand for the event. At this gathering more than twice the number of locos increased to a total of thirty-two and it was a pleasant task to find a place to put them. My back and forth track was a busy stretch of road as there were ten or eleven engines in steam. Between the 1933 meeting and October 1934 I had installed a third rail thus making the track available to the 3-1/2 inch gauge locomotives. Most of the locos were still 2-1/2 inch gauge, but the trend to 3-1/2 inch gauge around here was beginning to show. Some of the new members present with their locomotives were:


 * D.W. Massie with a 3-1/2 inch gauge 4-8-4
 * H.F. Austin with a Boston & Albany 3-1/2 inch gauge 4-6-4
 * Karl Friedrich with a 3-1/2 inch gauge old time 0-4-6 tank
 * Gene Stevens with a 3-1/4 inch gauge 4-4-2 which was steamed up but did not run as there was no 3-1/4 inch gauge track
 * Harry Sait ran his 2-1/2 inch gauge 2-10-4 (his latest) and the No. 4015 as well

Others who had engines running were Harry Fisher, Henry Kimball, C.F. Robbins and myself.