Golden Gate Live Steamers

Continuous Dedication to Live Steaming & Model Engineering Since 1936







Our photo collection is comprised of donations by past and present members and chronical the history and current activities of our club and its people. It is planned that the photos will be captioned as they are added and any assistance in documenting them will be welcomed.




                                                                               Charles (Budge) and Elizabeth Garbett, 

                                                                                                                the 1st GGLS secretary



 Small Scale Meet Pictorial 2012 


 John Bulger Training Session Commentaries 




The following photos come from the first web site of our club:



Historical Photo Albums:


 American Locomotive Day 2002 - American Locomotive (4-4-0) Day Meet in 2002.


 The Early Years  - Photos of the Early Years (1970-1975) of GGLS.


 IBLS 2000 Meet - Photos from the Internation Brotherhood of Live Steamers 2000 Meet.


 Long Train Day 2000 - Photos from Long Train Day Meet in 2000.


 Redwood Canyon - Photos of the club at the Redwood Canyon site (1951-1966).


 75th Anniversary Photos - Photos of the 75th Anniversary celebration of the club's founding from Vic Shattock's grandson, Kenneth.


 Snow at GGLS - Snow at GGLS Tilden Park facility.


 Snow at GGLS 2002 - Snow at GGLS in 2002


 Track Expansion Album 1 - September/October 2007 photos


 Track Expansion Album 2 - November/December 2007 photos


 Track Expansion Album 3 - January/March 2008 photos


 Track Expansion Album 4 - April/May 2008 photos


 Track Expansion Album 5 - June/July 2008 photos


 Track Expansion Album 6 - August-September 2008 photos


 Tilden in the 70's - Photos from Tilden Park in the 1970's.


 Vic's Basement - Photos from Vic Shattock's Basement.



Club Meets and Special Runs:


 Spring Meet 1999


 Fall Meet 1999 



 Chili Run 2000


 Spring Meet 2000 


 Fall Meet 2000 



 Chili Run 2001 


 Spring Meet 2001 


 Public Meet 2001 


 Fall Meet 2001 



 Chili Run 2002 


 Spring Meet 2002 


 Public Meet 2002 


 Fall Meet 2002 



 Chili Run 2003 


 Spring Meet 2003 


 Public Meet 2003 


 Fall Meet 2003 



 Spring Meet 2004 


 Fall Meet 2004 



 Spring Meet 2005 


 Fall Meet 2005 



 Spring Meet 2006 


 Fall Meet 2006 



There were no Spring or Fall Meets in 2007 - 2008 at the club facility due to the Track Expansion project done by the membership during that period.  See the Track Expansion photo albums on this page.


 Golden Spike Ceremony Album 1 - Golden Spike Ceremony 2008


 Golden Spike Ceremony Album 2 - Golden Spike Ceremony 2008


 Golden Spike Ceremony Album 3 - Golden Spike Ceremony 2008



 New Years Day Chili Run 2009 


 March 29, 2009 Run 


 Spring Open House 2009 


 Dave Luther's Wedding 2009 - Dave Luther's Wedding on the club facility


 Small Scale Meet 2009 Part 1 - Meet tailored for 3/4" and 1" locomotives


 Small Scale Meet 2009 Part 2 - Meet tailored for 3/4" and 1" locomotives


 Fall Open House Meet 2009 


 Snow on the Ground 2009 



 New Years Day Chili Run 2010 


 Spring Open House 2010 


 Small Scale Meet 2010 


 Fall Meet 2010 



 New Years Day Chili Run 2011 


 Spring Open House 2011 


 Fall Meet 2011 



 New Years Day Chili Run 2012 



 Spring Meet 2013 


 Fall Meet 2013 



 Spring Meet 2014 


 Fall Meet 2014 



 Spring Meet 2015 


 Fall Meet 2015 



 Spring Meet 2016 



 Fall Open House 2021 

 



Videos


The following links point to video clips on youtube that may be of interest to live steamers and model engineers:



Ken Shattock Recommendations

Ken has put several videos on youtube about the early days of the Golden Gate Live Steamers in the basement of Vic Shattock's basement in Oakland, California.  There are several articles in the Historical Documents section that compliment these two videos very nicely.


 Steam Railroading in the Basement Part 1 A 14:22 minute compilation of  1/2" live steaming equipment and rolling stock


 Steam Railroading in the Basement Part 2 A 7:26 minute continuation of 1/2" live steaming equipment and rolling stock.



Bruce Anderson Video Selections

Bruce Anderson, little brother of member Larry Anderson, has uploaded some video that visitorls will find interesting.  These include:


 Big Shays & Little Shays - a 25 minute film.  "Shot over a period of a few years, this is a collection of Shay steam engines of different gauges and scales.  They range in size from inches that you could hold in one hand to feet that can pull hundreds up a mountain.  The Roaring Camp engine was shot on a fifty degree day and has wonderfu condensation fog.  The 15" gauge J.T.&S. Shay #6 was visited during a Meet."


 GGLS Composite - a 6:21 minute film of various engines running on the Golden Gate Live Steamers club facility in 2007.


 Union Pacific 844, Oakland to Stockton - 10:18 minute film of the Union Pacific #844 4-8-4 during a run from Oakland, California to Stockton, California.


 1905 Best Steam Tractor - a 7:40 minute file of a 1905 Best Steam Tractor operating at Ardenwood Historical Farm in Fremont, California.  A very interesting and Big tri-cycle steam tractor!


 John Lisherness Shay video - a 1:30 minute video of John Lisherness, the engineer of his Shay, running the Public Train, taken by Bruce Anderson at the 2015 Spring Meet.



Editor's Pick and Club Favorites

The following are perennial favorites recommended by members and the Editorial staff and featured in past issues of the CallBoy.  

"You laugh & cry but won't kiss $10 bucks goodbye" with any of the following:


 Chicken Plucker - Here is a 49 second video of a home made chicken plucker made from a large plastic drum.  I'm wondering if any of our members to improve upon this!


 Chonday automaton - a 4:48 minute video segment from BBC about a 240-year old doll that can write; an amazing clockwork creation by Pierre Jaquet_Droz, a Swiss watchmaker.


 Chinese Switches - A 2:18 minute (5.7 mb) video submitted by Loren Byron that can be downloaded that shows a very rhythm monorail switching network in China.  It's quite intriguing and shows what can be done when when there is serious government back of innovating development.


 Derailment - A 7:17 minute documentary short produced in March 1944 by the United States National Defense Resources Committee & Office of Strategic Services on the Claiborn-Polk military railroad to help determine the best way to derail trains!


 Hay Baler in Operation - a 5:11 minute excerpt of a hay baler in operation.  This should answer some questions on how it works.


 Human Powered! - Sure to put a smile on your face, this 31 second video reminds us that human ingenuity and determination is still active around the world.


 Rail Welding - A 3:49 minute video showing a small Swedish railroad work crew welding long rail sections using thermite welding.  For those who haven't worked on a real railroad, it's pretty amazing how fast they can do it. 


 World's Worst Maintained Railroad - A 4:35 minute video titled the World's Worst Maintained Railroad.  It's painful to watch & listen and one wonders if the train is going to make it or not at the 2 miles per hour that it's high-balling at.  Be thankful with what we have at the club!


 Poor Venting - A 19 second video of what happens when you don't properly vent a storage tank car.


 Wood Cutting Device - Here is a 1:24 minute YouTube video showing a simple wood cutting device that could have been steam driven and used by someone a 100 years ago.  Because of the inherint danger, this may not be suitable for small childern!




Miscellaneous

This section holds articles & documents about live steam, model engineering and others that the reader might find interesting.


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