IBLS - Los Angeles 1995 - Photos

These are in no particular order. Click on a thumbnail to see a larger image.

Please email Live Steaming if you can add any information about any of these photos.

drag1.jpg (38KB) - Model live steam power shovel at IBLS 1995 Meet in LA. Owner/builder, Jerry Brown of LALS writes:

THE REVOLVING POWER SHOVEL, with all its various mechanisms working in unison, is likely the most interesting of all earth movers. Though doing a brute force job, with a skilled operator it can be quite well controlled and has a coordinated motion matched by few other machines.

THE FIRST STEAM EXCAVATOR was invented by William S. Otis in 1836. Early ones were partial-swing dipper shovels on railroad mountings. Later types were full-revolving and mounted on traction wheels. The Osgood Company built a dragline in 1884 and an electric powered shovel in 1889. From 1910 to 1920 the caterpillar mounting was developed and internal combustion power began to replace steam. By the late 1940's most steam shovels had been scrapped, but some survived as pile drivers because they could furnish steam for the hammer. One such rig, a Bucyrus 30-B, worked in the Los Angeles area until the middle 1970's and was a source of much information for the construction of this miniature, which is a one-sixth scale 50-ton crane (or about a 2.5-yard shovel).

SCRATCH-BUILT over a period of six years (except for chains, spur gearing and most plumbing fittings), it is mostly a composite of Bucyrus and Northwest. Allowing for the physics of reduced size, it operates much like the prototypes, all functions being steam operated from a boiler fird with diesel fuel. Feedwater is from injector, steampump, and power pump run from the main engine. The boom is of aluminum angle, 100" basic length with a 20" extra section. Buckets hold about 2 scale cubic yards (just under 2 gallons). There are 2 engines, both port-reversing doubles using slide valves. The main engine powers all hoist drums and the travel fuctions, while the swing engine revolves the superstructure. Steering done by disengaging and braking one track and, as was the case in full size, is rather slow and awkward. Drum clutches are external band worked with steam rams; brake bands are direct mechanical. Both are operated by a complex system of links, bell cranks and springs from the control station levers, a departure from full size due to the operator being some 6 times too large to fit inside to operate foot pedals. It may be noted that because of this he revolves with the machine with some difficulty.

Some other specifications:
Main engine 1.25x1.5 (2), IHP .7
Swing engine 3/4x1 (2)
Track base 25x25"
Loading 2.5 psi
Boiler pressure 100 psi. Rope size 1/8"
7x19 galv. steel
Working weight with clamshell approx. 620 lbs

dragdetl.jpg (43KB) - Model live steam powered dragline at IBLS 1995 Meet in LA

dragdoor.jpg (18KB) - Model live steam powered dragline at IBLS 1995 Meet in LA

dragfrnt.jpg (52KB) - Model live steam powered dragline at IBLS 1995 Meet in LA

dragpu.jpg (38KB) - Model live steam powered dragline at IBLS 1995 Meet in LA

grey.jpg (52KB) Taken at IBLS 1995 in LA

greyhose.jpg (35KB) Taken at IBLS 1995 in LA Story

Chet Peterson's Little Engines locomotive that was the RRSC flagship locomotive when they were in Burbank. Fellow holding the hose is Bob Woodward, who can't get enough trains at LALS so works on the 56½" gauge prototype for a living. I believe he owned Chet's engine for a while. Click here for more of the story of this loco.

greysmok.jpg (34KB) Taken at IBLS 1995 in LA Story

grnbrn.jpg (35KB) Taken at IBLS 1995 in LA

horiz.jpg (53KB) Taken at IBLS 1995 in LA

lalssb.jpg (124KB) - Ken Schroeder kens@sierra.net with his 60-ton, 3-truck shay. Ken operates the Centerville & Western Nevada RR at his house in Gardnerville, Nevada. He has 2000 feet of track, and this is where the Northern Nevada Live Steamers operate on the second Saturday of the month from April thru September.

The engine is C & WN #4 and is propane fired. It is modeled after a 60-ton, 3-truck Shay and is scratch built. He has, since building this engine, been selling the castings and drawings for people wanting to build a Shay. It can be built as a 50 ton 2-truck or as a 60 ton 3-truck.

proud.jpg (36KB) - Ken Schroeder with his shay. The Budweiser car is his propane tank car and does not carry beer as some people wish.

cyl4.jpg (45KB) - Ken Schroeder's 2-4-4-2 mallet that he completed in 1988. This is a 1 1/2" scale of a 1910 Baldwin mallet built for the Little River Railroad as engine # 126. It is propane fired, scratch built and is a true compound. Accessories include a steam operated generator and steam operated power reverse. It is designated as Centerville & Western Nevada Railroad engine #3. This engine was on the cover of the 1990 December issue of Live Steam magazine.

louise.jpg (41KB) - Louise is Andy Clerici's locomotive. It is a model of a 30"? gauge plantation engine, propane fired. As with all Andy's engines, if you get close you better have a hanky to help keep the drool off the engine. First class!

louiseb.jpg (40KB) - Andy Clerici's locomotive.

mariposa.jpg (45KB) - #.

mellors.jpg (43KB) - #.

npdiesel.jpg (37KB) - #.

poppet.jpg (32KB) - #.

pump.jpg (18KB) - #.

scouser.jpg (41KB) - BCSME mambers Bill Moffat and Joe Carrol with fellow member Ernie Allen's 4-4-4 CPR Jubilee.

smogbelt.jpg (108KB) - The Smogbelt Consolidation belongs to LALS charter member Jim Lesovsky.

ssrt.jpg (118KB) -Nils Sandstrom's locomotive. It is a heavily modified Chloe with Joy valve gear, a dry backhead boiler (no water legs - just rear flue sheet and crown sheet) Has water heater type spirals in flues to increase flue efficiency. Heavy steel boiler, pulls about 2x normal "by the kit" Chloe. Loco is about 35 years old, runs every weekend.

tiny.jpg (114KB) - A Little Engine's 1" scale 0-4-0 tank engine. It is owned by my brother John Barter. He also built the coal car in front of it, hence the name Barter Coal Co. My Locomotive is the 0-6-0 two stalls farther back in the picture. The boy is my son Thomas.

My name is  Art Barter and my e-mail address is lrdg-rr@juno.com. I am currently building one of Ken Schroeder's three truck shays. You have a picture of that engine also on the same page.


Live Steaming photos page