At 12:57 PM 11/21/06 -0000, you wrote:
>Whilst there is no doubt that LBSC was probabily the greatest
>model engineer of all time

Has no one heard of Coates, Bradbury-Winter, Greenly, Crebbin, Carter,
Amsbury, Dupen, Hinds-Hill? "Greatest model engineer of all time" is
giving him far more credit than is due although he would no doubt have felt
slighted because you understated his importance and influence. He could
argualbly be called the best-known, but how great or influential LBSC
was/is depends upon your particular approach to model enginering.
If you are interested in close scale representations of a given loco,
which of course many MEs are, his designs were very poor representations of
their prototypes, where there was a prototype. Only a couple, Maid of Kent
(Southern L-1) and Pansy (a name which most 57XX Pannier Tank lovers
dispise), come close to being scale representations.
His frequent defense "I make locos to run, not look good" (or words to
that effect) is valid because there are of course many people whose
interest is primarily in running. But if this is the case then what do we
make of gold medal and cup winners which are complete in the most
infinitessimal detail yet they perform perfectly well on the track? In
recent years one ME exhibition cup winner even won the IMLEC (International
Model Locomotive Efficiency Competition). It has long been proven that it
can be had both ways so having to choose between running vs. appearance is
no longer a question.
I share the opinion of others who believe that in his later years his
attitude of utter infallability and vitriolic defense of his work when the
flaws were exposed, or which were subsequently improved upon by others,
detracted substantially from if not destroyed whatever high ground he had
created for himself and makes the idolatry that now sometimes follows him
undeserved. I have read at one time or another every word of LBSC in print
and never once did he enter into a discussion, in that he acknowledged that
anyone other than himself might have an equally workable solution to a
given problem or an improvement upon his design. Having flaws in ones work
is not the question, EVERYone who creates anything will make mistakes and
have flaws, it is how those inevitable shortcomings were received and
addressed which is disappointing.
A rational evaluation of LBSC's contribution to model engineering
(without the idolatry) is that he made two principle and substantial
contributions to the world of model engineering and timing was a key
factor. The first contribution was to create 50+ locomotive designs. This
is a Herculean body of work and cannot be sneezed at.
The second but by far the most important contribution was to
demonstrate through his writings to a class-driven society (and LBSC was
very class-conscious) that the practice of model engineering was not solely
a privilege of the upper classes or the educated, that with minimal tools
and some effort (and by following his instructions) Everyman could build
and possess a model steam locomotive.
The "timing" aspect of this is essential to the story in that after
WW1, and for the first time in England, there emerged an actualization of
the notion of "leisure" for the working classes, whereas until that time
leisure had been something only the upper classes enjoyed and felt entitled
to. One could say His time had come.


Regards,
Harry Wade
Nashville Tennessee