Al Milburn: Difference between revisions

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From [[Youd Better Not Call Them Toys]]:
From [[Youd Better Not Call Them Toys]]:


[[File:AC Milburn Atlantic Progress May 1951.jpg|thumb|right|200px]]
[[File:AC Milburn Atlantic Progress May 1951.jpg|thumb|right|300px|From "You'd 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 [[Al Milburn|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.
: 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 [[Al Milburn|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.

Revision as of 09:28, 29 June 2016

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.
NELS Meet Danvers 1940.jpg

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.
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:

From "You'd 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.

Circa 1960

Al Milburn at PVLS with his NYC&HR RR 870, hand built from solid stock. Circa 1960. Photo by Steve Bratina.

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