IBLS Library 1952

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BLS National Meet

Reflections on the 1952 BLS National Meet

by Adrian Buyse

Live Steam Magazine, June 1972

Speculate, if you will, how many of the Live Steamers who attended the 20th Annual BLS Meet will be at the 4-th Annual Meet this fall (1972). Carl Purinton informs me that of those who attended the First Annual Meet in 1933 at his home in Marblehead, Massachusetts, only two were at the 20th Anniversary Meet sponsored by the long-defunct New England Live Steamers at Danvers, Massachusetts, in August 1952. The 40th Anniversary Meet will be sponsored by the Pioneer Valley Live Steamers at their track in Southwick, Massachusetts, on October 13, 14 and 15 this year along with the 20th Anniversary celebration of the host club's founding.

The 20th Anniversary Meet in 1952, incidentally, was the last one held in the East. The first five were held at Carl's home, the next nine at Danvers. In 1947 it was held in Lachine, Quebec, and the following three were back in Danvers. Then, in 1951 the Annual BLS Meet was held in Oakland, Claifornia, and the following year in Danvers again. Toronto, Ontario; Lomita, California, and Winnipeg, Manitoba, were the sites of the next three meets when a Pentennial rotating plan was introduced. Los Angeles was the meeting place in 1960, 1965 and 1970.

With this in mind, I ferreted out of my negative file the exposures I made at Danvers in 1952 for a look at this "dusty" history. Locomotives still capture the largest interest, but 1952 was the "hey-day" of 3/4 inch scale and several outstanding builders are represented. Of the 39 locomotives in steam during that 3-day meet, only two were in 1 inch scale...George Thomas' RDG L-7 4-6-0 Camelback and Harry Quick's freelance 4-8-2. There were no facilities at the NELS track for 1-1/2 inch equipment but the late Les Friend's Joytown Railroad was in operation at the nearby Topsfield Fairgrounds. There, Live Steamers could admire and ride behind his coal-burning 1-1/2 inch scale B&A 4-6-4, fired and piloted by a sprite of a college girl who ran the engine daily as a summer job.

The pictures brought back many memories.