Al Milburn

1940

From New England Live Steamers:

Upper-right: -- 4-4-2 3-1/2" gague. W. S. Van Brocklin, Jr., builder. Al Milburn running the engine with Billy as passenger.

1949

Lester Friend's home shop, Danvers, Mass., 1949. Front right to left: Art Wegner, Ray Peck, Lester Friend's daughter. Bending over: Lester Friend. At right behind: Al Milburn. Photo by A.W. Leggett.

1950

From IBLS Journal 1950:

Al Milburn's cut from the solid Atlantic a beautiful job to see.

Bill Leggett admiring Al Milburn's Atlantic (top) at BLS Meet at Danvers, MA, 1950. Photo by A.W. Leggett, provided by Jim Leggett.

• Keith Taylor posted on Chaski.org:

Al Milburn built a beautiful 3/4" scale Atlantic where everything was hacked from solid. The drivers were sawn out by hand with a jeweler's saw, then filed to the correct profile...then sand blasted so they would look like castings!

1951

From Youd Better Not Call Them Toys:

Many men who didn't know a drill press from a grape press until they started their first loco have found that the thousands of hours of trial-and-error shop work have made them competent machinists. One such is A. C. Milburn of Milford, Connecticut. Ten years ago he started work on a 1/2-inch scale freight engine in his spare time from a 4,000-foot coal shaft where he was a digger, today Milburn is a well-paid toolmaker-thanks to live steam.

From IBLS Journal 1951:

The former speed record of 26 MPH set at Danvers some years ago by Norm Robinson & his 3/4 inch scale Fayette, or our friend Al Milburn's record of 22 MPH on his own former home loop with his 2-1/2 inch gauge Lucy-Ann 4-8-4, would very likely raise the hair on the necks of these California steam boys. These records were watch timed and are actual miles per hour, not scale MPH.

External Links

• "The Norman Mottshaw NYC Hudson in 3/4" Scale", Chaski.org