Quotations
One feature of live steam that is commencing to gain recognition is the historical side. I don't think many of the Live Steamers have thought much about it, but it will not be long now before the only place you will be able to see what a steam locomotive looks like will be a Live Steamer meeting. In a few years there are going to be lots and lots of kids around, and grown-ups also, who will not remember having seen a steam loco.
- Carl Purinton, The Miniature Locomotive, October-November, 1953
Everything on this earth takes time, even a flash of lightning, and steam doesn't move quite as fast as that.
- L.B.S.C., The Live Steamer, May-June 1951
Standards are among the tools of simplification. How many of us would be in the hobby if we had to turn all of our wheels by hand on a lathe? Standards have produced many a practical shortcut so that all kinds of men besides machinists can enjoy model railroading.
- Linn H. Westcott, Model Railroader, May 1965, Page 21
To me the phrase "Live Steam" encompasses the hobby as a whole. It doesn't exclude non-steam powered equipment.
- John Schuch, Canton, Saint Paul and Pacific Railway President, Chaski.org
I have noticed that the quality of the locomotives – Steam or Diesel – has improved greatly through the years. One can only wonder what this hobby will be like 40 years from now!
Beginners are the key to our future.
I don't care anything about steam engines, but I think that steam engine people are the nicest in the world.
- Un-named wife of a live steamer attending Alva Trook's meet, May 1956
What will you do this year to introduce someone to the live-steam hobby?
I suggest our motto should be "Build something today."
Is it possible the founder of The International Brotherhood of Live Steamers would have embraced this medium had it existed in 1932? Carl Purinton surely would have set up a web site, don't you think?
The late Carl Purinton when talking about his experiences on full sized steam locomotives once told me that "they run best when they are completely worn out.....but not quite!"
The IBLS wiki contains a wonderful number of standards for the home hobbyist to integrate into their designs in order to properly interchange with other equipment - tire gauges and machining profiles, coupler placement, track standards.
Does BLS not mean also "Bless Live Steamers"?
- Charles S. Purinton, Live Steam Magazine, April 1983
Look up IBLS. International Brotherhood of Live Steamers (or large scale). It's the NMRA of large scale.
- John Doyle on Facebook
Post-graduates in Model Railroading are the "live steamers". This ambitious group build models from the base metal to realistic replicas actually operated by steam.
- Victor Shattock, "Live Steam in the Basement", movie caption