The magazine is devoted to the live steam hobby as well as to other uses of miniature and full-size steam equipment.

Live Steam was originally started as the Live Steam Newsletter in the early 1960s by Pershing Scott as a mimeographed newsletter.

[1] In August 1966, Scott gave the publishing rights of the newsletter to William Fitt.

[1] In 2005, the name was changed to Live Steam & Outdoor Railroading.

It is currently published bi-monthly, in full color, with a press run of slightly over 10,000 as of December 2004.