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The International Brotherhood of Live Steamers promotes the "Live Steam" hobby in North America and abroad. Join the International Brotherhood of Live Steamers About the IBLS Beginners start here This wiki contains 959 articles.

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 Van Anderson I feel it is my duty to pick my own brain and broadcast technical information that would be useful to others, thereby increasing the chances of prolonging The Hobby. Paul C. Haar, former Secretary of the Northeastern Ohio Live Steamers 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

Meets

Carl Hoffman’s Thornridge Crescent ground level track in 1967. Photo courtesy of Bruce Hoffman.

• Annetta Valley & Western Railroad 50th Anniversary Meet, April 7 to 9, 2022
  • To add your meet email Daris Nevil

Features

3D Model of LBSC's Tich by Jim Mullner

Greg Glos provided his detailed build notes for the Scotty Mogul

Moving Up A Gauge

Jim Mullner models LBSC's Doris in SOLIDWORKS

Build Cliff Blackstaffe's Beginner's Locomotive

Modeling LBSC's Tich in 3D

How An Injector Works

Bill Yoder's 3/4 inch scale registry is back with new updates!

Lone wolf Harry Heil featured on KSL

Print your own IBLS Wheel Gauge

Karl Friedrich completed his first live steam locomotive in 1925.

Albert Campbell started producing live steam locomotive casting kits in 1896!

Meg Steam - The REAL Story

Tom Thumb Railroads

The Brotherhood of Live Steamers is mentioned in an article "The Iron Hobby Horse" in the Saturday Evening Post.

The Hoffman Hudson Story

Bill Daney, Live Steam Pioneer

A visit to the Lakes Park Museum and Railroad in Florida

New! A comprehensive list of steam locomotive drawings

Click here for a comprehensive list of articles.

IBLS Store

Patch

A high-quality, 6 color patch commemorating the founding of the Brotherhood of Live Steamers by Carl Purinton in 1932. The patch is 3 inches high, 2.7 inches wide.

Only $5 each, includes postage. Click here to purchase

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7.x Wheel Gauge

This 7.x inch gauge Wheel Gauge will make verification of your wheel profile easy. Measures flange, wheel angle, and Minimum Tire Width (TW). Printed in durable black plastic.

Only $2.50 each, includes postage. Click here to purchase

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Regional IBLS Secretaries

• North America
• Australia
• Europe

Standards and Recommended Practice

This heavy Pacific 4-6-2 was built in 1936 by William L. Daney, Pueblo, Colorado.

• IBLS Wheel Standard
• IBLS Coupler and Safety Chain Standards
• IBLS Track Standard
• Loading gauge
• Standards and Recommended Practice
• Boiler Inspections
• Bolt and Pipe Threads
• Texas Standard Tie Spacing

Wandering Locomotive Books

• Winton Brown Engineering Data
• Koster's Miniature Railroad Supplies
• Lee Wright and Lee's Trains
• Jan-Eric Nystrom's Baldwin 3003
• Bill Yoder's 3/4 Inch Scale Registry
• Jim Murray and MDM Locomotive Works

Articles by Category

3/4 inch scale live steam model of a Union Pacific Challenger built by D. W. Massie of Montreal, Canada.

• Category:IBLS Secretaries
• Category:People
• Category:History
• Category:Pop Culture

• Category:Beginners

• Category:Standards
• Category:Definitions

• Category:Clubs
• Category:Tracks
• Category:Suppliers

• Category:Construction
• Category:Maintenance
• Category:Operations
• Category:Right of Way
• Category:Safety
• Category:Materials

• Category:Books
• Category:Catalogs
• Category:Periodicals

• Category:Steam Locomotive Parts
• Category:Diesel Locomotive Parts
• Category:Railroad Car Parts

• Category:Prototypes
• Category:Steam Locomotive Models

Articles of Interest

• Steam Locomotive Drawings

Contributing

Have an idea for an IBLS article? Please contact daris@nevil.org