Lloyd Giebner, Legendary Model Railroader

Lloyd Giebner shows how to build a proper diorama in July '54 RMC

Vince mentioned to me that the work of Lloyd Giebner was something I should look into. I'm glad he did.

Our discussion started a few months ago in sort of a round-about way: he noted that most model makers don't use the term diorama correctly, and we eventually got around to discussing Lloyd Giebner's July '54 Railroad Model Craftsman article, Building A Diorama, where he does use diorama correctly, and shows how he built one featuring the Golden Gate Bridge.

Ok, so after some initial blue-skying, off we go to the internet. It turns out that Mr. Giebner's full name was Ira Lloyd Giebner, but this memorial says he preferred to be called Lloyd. Mr. Giebner was of the same generation as E. L. Moore: Giebner was born in 1896 and Moore in 1898; however, unlike Mr. Moore, Mr. Giebner died at the age of 67 in 1963; Mr. Moore lived to 81 and died in 1979.

Vince also pointed out that Mr. Giebner was a formally trained musician who in 1913 published a waltz song called She is waiting there for me. I assume it was sheet music only. I looked for an online recording, but no luck. His memorial notes he owned a business called Cash Poultry Company in Galveston, Texas.

Mr. Giebner's article list is impressive, and it's clear that throughout the mid-50's he was Railroad Model Craftsman's primary writer on miniature building projects. 

(MR = Model Railroader; RMC = Railroad Model Craftsman)

Sept '52, RMC: A Little Bit of Texas

Oct '52, RMC: Sperry Detector Car

Nov '52, RMC: Modern Radio Control Tower

Dec '52, RMC: First National Bank Building

Jan & Feb '53, RMC: Santa Fe Water Plant, Parts 1 & 2

April '53, RMC: Santa Fe Oil Supply

June '53, RMC: Build a miniature sand house

July '53, RMC: Build an elevated gate tower for your layout

Aug & Oct '53, RMC: Build your own Coaling Station, Parts 1 & 2

Nov '53, RMC: Your pike needs a Cinder Conveyor (reprinted in Carsten's Locomotive Terminals and Railroad Structures)

Dec '53, RMC: Manual Block Tower

Jan '54, RMC: Depot of 1911

Feb '54, RMC: A miniature stock yard for your pike

Mar '54, RMC: Water stop

Apr '54, RMC: Authentically detailed combination station

May '54, RMC: Build this Section House

June '54, RMC: Motor car shed and box car bunkers

                          Build this shop desk

July '54, RMC: A roundhouse for your engine terminal (reprinted in Carsten's Locomotive Terminals and Railroad Structures)

                        Building A Diorama

Aug '54, RMC: The Diesel Shop (reprinted in Carsten's Locomotive Terminals and Railroad Structures)

Sept '54, RMC: Elevated tower at Bakersfield on the ATSF (reprinted in Carsten's Locomotive Terminals and Railroad Structures)

Oct '54, RMC: Santa Fe MofW materials house

Nov '54, RMC: A diesel sand station

Dec '54, RMC: Small diesel oiling facilities

Jan '55, RMC: A modern warehouse

Feb '55, RMC: HO Grain Elevator

Mar '55, RMC: Old time grain mill

Apr '55, RMC: Milk Station

May '55, RMC: The milk processing plant

June '55, RMC: Model the X-Acto Factory

Aug '55, RMC: A working floodlight tower (reprinted in Carsten's Locomotive Terminals and Railroad Structures)

Sept '55, RMC: LCL Break Bulk Station

Oct '55, RMC: Gila Bend - Old West Village

Nov '55, RMC: Georgetown, Colorado

Dec '55, RMC: 1874 Fire House

Jan '56, RMC: The Little Brown Church in the Vale

Mar '56, RMC: A Piggy Back Depot

Apr '56, RMC: Earth type bases for model railroad structures

May & June '56, RMC: Old Cheyenne, Parts 1 & 2

Sept '56, RMC: 1870 Santa Fe Water Tower

Oct '56, RMC: 1870 Coaling Station

Nov '56, RMC: Covered Bridge

                         Saloon and General Store

Dec '56, RMC: Old Water Mill

                 MR: Division-point depot

Jan '57, MR: Modern interlocking tower

Feb '57, MR: Wood water tank (Suncoast Models produced a kit of this in 1968)

June '57, MR: Modern grain elevator (Suncoast Models produced a kit of this in 1968)

Aug '57, MR: Piggyback trailer depot (reprinted in Kalmbach's Bridges and Buildings for Model Railroads)

Oct '57, MR: Modern LCL freight house (reprinted in Kalmbach's Bridges and Buildings for Model Railroads)

Dec '57, MR: Direct coaling station

May '58, MR: Retarder tower for hump yard

Aug '58, RMC: Backwoods mining town

June '59, MR: Bulk oil depot

July '62, RMC: Water powered grist mill

Is that Mr. Giebner near the top right? / A little bit of Texas RMC Sept '52

Note on the list: A number of Mr. Giebner's RMC articles were reprinted in Carsten's 2000 publication, Locomotive Terminals and Railroad Structures. I haven't been able to identify them all, so I'll need to update the list once I do.

The first article, A little bit of Texas, introduces Mr. Giebner and shows off a part of his layout. From the track plan and photos one gets a sense that it's dense with buildings, and this is confirmed in the article,

To date there are 20 well constructed buildings on the pike, no two alike in design or material. They were modeled from actual buildings in strip wood, cardboard, metal and plastic. In addition, there are 40 other buildings, large and small, including cattle holding pens, auto unloading ramps, parks, billboards, and power lines.

If nothing else this article establishes Mr. Giebner as a structure modeler, and in retrospect hints at things to come.

Lloyd Giebner wasn't listed as a staffer at RMC, but you can see that from his first article in Sept '52 up until Dec '56 he was publishing close to every month or thereabouts. But, in Dec '56 a significant change happened: from then on Model Railroader became his primary publisher, although his publication rate was nowhere near the level it previously was at RMC. Did something happen to his relationship with RMC? Did MR make him a better offer? Was there illness? I'll likely never know.

Before we wrap up, as I mentioned earlier, it appears that the role played by Mr. Giebner at RMC in the '50s is more-or-less the same one played by E. L. Moore in the '60s: go-to guy for a steady-stream of building and structure articles. If Lloyd Giebner had 14 more years to create and write as E. L. Moore did, I suspect their output numbers might have been similar. But, on the other hand, if Mr. Giebner had continued well into the '60s, maybe neither Gil Melle nor E. L. Moore would have come to prominence. Regardless, it's a great legacy we've been left.

[Update, afternoon of 18 March: Vince reminded me that in Sam Posey's book Playing with Trains, he mentions that George Sellios, founder of FineScale Miniatures, was inspired by Lloyd Giebner's work,

When he [George] was eleven, he bought an issue of Railroad Model Craftsman that featured a model of a grain mill [I suspect it was the Old time grain mill in the Mar '55 RMC] built by a man named Lloyd Giebner. At first, George thought the photograph was a shot of the real thing. Something clicked when he realized it was a model; he was staggered by the idea that such realism was possible. He had been making structures out of cigar boxes, painting windows and doors right on the wood. Now he tried to build Giebner's mill. Disappointed with his first attempt, he tried again. By his fourth try, he was close - and hooked on the excitement of seeing something that looked so real take shape in his hands.]