Edward C. Steinberg, Kitbasher Extraordinaire and Legendary Model Railroader

Steinberg has 3 articles inside, but no mention on the cover 

I began reading through the model railroading magazines of 1977 with one from January 1978. The January 1978 issue of Model Railroader to be specific. Long ago, and long forgotten, I had stuck a Post-It note to the top of page 58 to remind me where E. L. Moore’s Village Store article was, so when I was getting started on this reading adventure the doofus in me went straight for the little yellow flag sticking up amongst the field of pages on the shelf to see what I had marked, thinking that was the start to 1977. I wandered through the rest of the issue after saying hello to that old E. L. Moore article and was surprised to stumble across 3 different construction articles by the same author, an author who wasn’t E. L. Moore. It’s rather unusual to see 2 construction articles attributed to the same writer in an issue, 3 is rare indeed. The author was Edward C. Steinberg and all 3 articles dealt with kitbashing. I tend to think of Art Curren as MR’s kitbashing guy, and the leading light in kitbashing in general during that era, but I got a bit of an education when I went to look for more articles by Mr. Steinberg*.

I went to the MR archive, as well as the annual indices for Railroad Model Craftsman and Railroad Modeler, to see what he had published in the way of kitbashing and scratchbuilding articles in the 1970s and throughout the 20th century**. Here’s what I found (I’ve noted in () after the title what sort of article it is): 

1975

April: (MR) So you need a heavy-duty depressed-center flatcar! (kitbash)

May: (RM) The Great Coal Elevator (scratchbuild)

November: (RM) Quick & Easy Flat Cars (kitbash)

1976

January: (MR) Scratchbuild a loading platform (scratchbuild)

May: (MR) Stretching gondolas: 50’ + 50’ = 65’ (kitbash)

October: (MR) Bash a convertible bulkhead flatcar (kitbash)

December: (MR) A growing family of boxcars (kitbash)

1977

January: (MR) Model a contemporary lumber rack (scratchbuild)

February: (RM) Freelance Railcrane (kitbash)

    (NMRA Bulletin) Covering Stretched Mill Gondolas (kitbash)

March: (MR) Heavy-duty flatcar (kitbash)

    (MR) Levine Brothers Iron Works (scratchbuild)

May: (RM) Giant Hoppers for Coal (kitbash)

July: (MR) A large industry for a small layout (kitbash)

    (RM) The Super Tanker (kitbash)

December: (MR) Scratchbuilding a turntable (scratchbuild)

1978

January: (MR) The Eastwyck & Fensterstock Construction Co. (kitbash)

    (MR) Bash a transfer caboose (kitbash)

    (MR) Compound kitbashing to produce a feed mill*** (kitbash)

February: (MR) The big truck bash (kitbash)

    (RM) Dynamometer Car (kitbash)

March: (MR) Scratchbuild a depressed center flatcar (scratchbuilding)

April: (RM) Build a Bunch of Bathtub Gondolas (kitbash)

October: (MR) A diesel-powered rotary snowplow (kitbash)

    (RMC) Kitbashing a well-hole flat car (kitbash)

    (RM) Wartsboro Coal Elevator (scratchbuild)

November: (RM) Build a Railroad Magazine File

December: (MR) Modeling a bulk oil distribution terminal (kitbash)

1979

February: (MR) FA’s, Sharks, and Kadee couplers

March: (MR) Modern chemical tank cars (kitbash)

June: (RMC) 3 into 1: A Large Industry from a Smaller Trio (kitbash)

August: (RMC) Portable coal crusher

September: (MR) Toy parts into flatcar loads in one easy lesson

October: (MR) Mahjek Furniture Company (kitbash)

    (MR) Building a modern 60-foot automobile parts boxcar (kitbash)

December: (MR) Building a waffle-side automobile parts boxcar (kitbash)

1980

January: (MR) Safety-cage ladders

February: (RMC) “Standard Freighthouses (kit bash)

March: (MR) Build a wreck train (kitbash)

    (MR) A photo in the sporadic It Ain’t Prototype feature

August: (MR) The Greycourt interchange yard

    (RMC) Trackplan for the DLE&W

December: (MR) Building the Green River RR.: 1

    (RMC) An industry with heritage (kitbash)

1981

January: (MR) Building the Green River RR.: 2

March: (MR) Building the Green River RR.: Conclusion

    (RMC) Multi-level benchwork for the DLE&W

July: (RMC) Americanizing Wiking Trucks (kitbash)

October: (MR) Build a concrete plant (scratchbuild)

1983

January: (RMC) N&W-style caboose (kitbash)

1987

December: (RMC) RMC’s annual index says there was a Steinberg article published this month, but I couldn’t find it.

1994

August: (MR) Modeling Maxon Mills (scratchbuild)

2000

July: (MR) The shops at Marian Eddy**** (kitbash)

Although the article list is probably not a complete record of what Mr. Steinberg published it does strengthen the argument that he was a leading light regarding scratchbuilding and kitbashing from a period extending from the mid 1970s to the early 1980s, not to mention a major writer in model railroading. It looks like Mr. Steinberg’s heyday was in the late 70s, with 1978 being his peak year. Here’s a count of how many articles he published by year:

1975: 3

1976: 4

1977: 9

1978: 12

1979: 8

1980: 8

1981: 5

1982 to the end of the 20th century: 4

As you can see, his articles kind of petered out in the early 1980s.

Steinberg’s kitbashing articles are rather different in approach than Curren’s in a couple of ways. First, Steinberg’s appear to use prototypes for inspiration and design, and Curren’s kitbashes seem to focus more on what interesting assemblages can be made with available kits. I wouldn’t say one way is better than the other, just that they’re examples of two ways to kitbash.*****  Secondly, Steinberg did a lot of freight car kitbashes, again focused on replicating, or at least being inspired by, prototypes, and Curren’s work focused on structures.

MR carried a brief biographical note in their Dec. ’76 issue about Edward Steinberg. In it Mr Steinberg is quoted as saying, “I am more concerned with plausibility than with authenticity or correct prototype. I try to do what seems reasonable for my railroad, whether or not it may be ‘correct’. The purpose of the whole thing is to please myself. Ultimately, I suppose, I want to produce an operating miniature railroad. More than half the fun, however, is getting there.” This philosophy apparently didn’t go down well with some readers at the time. One correspondent in MR’s Aug ’77 issue complained that, “Kitbashed freight cars by Mr. Steinberg: These articles are reminiscent of the stage of development that model locomotive construction articles were back in the 1940’s. There is just talk of a prototype, but no photo of the prototype for those who want to decide for themselves whether the model has a close enough appearance to the prototype to suit their taste.” Another correspondent, from Sweden, in that same issue seemed to concur, “And Mr. Steinberg’s kitbashing techniques are good, showing how simple it can be to create variety in a freight car fleet. But without better prototype information included, freight car modeling will remain in a stone-age stage lacking all its potential appeal.” If you look at Mr. Steinberg’s complete works - with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight from this point in the 21st century :-) - many of his freight car articles do contain prototype photos, so you can judge for yourself. 

Maybe those comments were simply a sign-of-the-times. That was the era when the movement in model railroading to model prototypes as closely as possible was emerging, and 1977 saw the release of the first issue of Prototype Modeler magazine to cater to that market. I guess I’m more sympathetic to kitbashing whose concerns are with plausibility than high fidelity to prototypes as I came to model railroading from model car building where building plausible custom vehicles, and sometimes very wild ones, wasn’t unusual. 

Portrait snippets sourced from MR | MR | Obiturary

MR’s biographical note also mentions he was 34 at the time, and worked as a city planner. Mr. Steinberg died in 2018 and his obituary gives a little insight into his professional life. It’s noted that, “Ed earned a B.A. from Columbia College and an M.S. in Urban Planning from the School of Architecture & Planning at Columbia University. He began his professional career in 1966 as a planned [JDL: I think they mean ‘planner’] for the N.Y. office of the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. He came to White Plains [JDL: in New York state] in 1970 to work for the Urban Renewal Agency, where he was later named Director. In 1985, he was appointed Commissioner of Planning for the city.” This may explain the drop off in articles in the early 1980s. He was moving up in his professional career at that time. His background in urban planning may also account for his interest in a more nuanced approach to kitbashing and scratchbuilding as opposed to a literalist one.

Before I leave you I should mention one more 1977 kitbashing story I found while researching this post. There’s an article by George P. Landow called The P. J. Macktez Woolen Mill in the May 1977 issue of MR. It uses the plastic kits of E. L. Moore’s Machine Shop and Gruesome Casket Co.. Well, so what you say? They were used all the time back then. Well, it’s the number of Machine Shops that’re used: 14 (!) by my count (and 1 Gruesome Casket). The article is cagey and never states how many Machine Shops you’ll need to build this large structure - maybe the editors thought by doing so they’d scare off readers. This must be one of the purest expressions you’ll find of Art Curren’s philosophy of using plastic kits as sources of walls, but to build it today with Machine Shops could be a pricey proposition. I was able to find Machine Shop kits in the Walthers Trainline series for sale at a Quebec based online retailer for $24.95 CDN each. Those 14 kits would cost a total of $349.30 CDN. An online inflation calculator tells me those same kits would have cost $75.77 CDN in 1977. Throw in a Gruesome Casket kit, plus some odds and ends to complete the project, and that would have been around a $100 CDN project in 1977. Too much for me then, and still too much for me now. The more things change, the more things stay the same :-)

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Digressions

*I’ll probably have to revise my Secret History of Kitbashing given what I’ve recently learned :-)

**Trains.com used to have an extensive, searchable online index of model railroading magazines and their contents. It’s been gone for a year or two. I used to use it for all my searches as it was an excellent resource: professionally indexed and comprehensive. The NMRA has an online index, but, although it’s better than nothing, it’s a poor substitute. It’s far from complete, and the indexing and presentation of results needs serious revision. The majority of magazine articles I’ve listed in this post came from me slogging through the indexes for MR, RMC, and RM. I suspect I’ve missed a few articles and I apologize for that. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he published in places other than those 3 magazines. I don’t have a magazine collection that covers all publications, or an index that does :-( , so I admit my list is likely incomplete. Please let me know about any additions.

Later in the development of this post I came across a new index, RMI, which seems to fill the gap that Trains.com left. I’ve been giving it a try with searches for the articles of Edward Steinberg, but, although it’s promising, it appears to need work. However, I’m glad to see this development and wish them well.

***This is a particularly interesting article as it promotes kitbashing with craftsman kits instead of the usual plastic ones. 

****Another interesting project as it makes use of Walthers HO scale back shop. You may recall I did a conversion of Walthers N scale back shop to HO.

*****A third approach would be that of Kim Adams, who goes further than Curren does when it comes to imaginative approaches to kitbashing.