Recent content by LE BARON

All the crooks will want one to jump the nail strips the cops lay down to stop them

During the steam era the Illinois Central's Paducah, KY, shops were masters at "kit bashing". Between 1937 and 1942 the shops constructed 4-8-2's 2500-2555 using 2-10-2 boilers mounted to new frames. This meant there were now 56 surplus 2-10-2 frames. 41 of these frames were used to construct...

Before the new Illinois Central's Paducah shops opened in 1927, the Burnside Shops at 95th Street in Chicago also did heavy repairs/modifications to locomotives. Between 1916 and 1924 the Burnside Shops rebuilt 33 2-8-0's into 2-8-2's. When first rebuilt these locomotives were renumbered and...

On a typical muggy day in the summer of 1956, the hostler at Oak Street yard in Louisville, KY, refuels 4-8-2 2400.

n 1922 and 1924 the Alabama & Vicksburg Railway acquired two oil-burning 0-10-0's numbered 430 and 431. Yes, you read correct, they were 0-10-0's. These beasts were assigned to switch the ferry incline at the A&V's Mississippi River ferry at Vicksburg, MS. Having their entire engine weight on...

Armourers wheel 500-lb GP bombs toward a No. 58 Squadron Whitley Mark V at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, June 1940.

In 1867 the Leavenworth Lawrence and Galveston Railroad successfully completed the construction of a major bridge spanning the Kansas River in Lawrence Kansas. This engineering feat stood as a critical milestone in the rapid expansion of the American railroad system in the years immediately...

𝐂𝐁&𝐐 𝟒-𝟖-𝟒 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐎-𝟓-𝐁 𝟓𝟔𝟑𝟐 Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad 4-8-4 Class O-5-B 5632 arriving at Aurora, Illinois on October 11, 1964, Ektachrome by Chuck Zeiler. This was one of many CB&Q steam excursions in 1964, this one headed by 4-8-4 5632. The orange car cut in behind the tender was the...

Santa Fe No. 5000, famously known as “Madame Queen,” stands as one of the most remarkable steam locomotives ever built in the United States. Constructed in 1930 by Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, it was designed as a 2-10-4 “Texas” type engine, a...

This historic photograph taken on November 4, 1943, captures the Pennsylvania Railroad's expansive eastbound track layout in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Altoona was a critical hub for the railroad industry, serving as a bustling center of activity for trains traveling through the region. The image...

1991 doubleheader with Union Pacific 3985

Britain’s Miles M.39 Libellula was an unusual swept-wing, twin-engine medium bomber demonstrator that first flew in 1943. Built by Miles Aircraft, the aircraft was designed around a tandem-wing layout rather than the conventional single main wing and tailplane. The name “Libellula” means...

Heavily damaged B-17 Flying Fortress L’il Satan after being hit by flak while returning from a mission. The navigator and bombardier were killed in action, but the pilot managed to bring the aircraft back to base in England. 25 June 1944. It is hard to imagine what went through the minds of...

This AVRO Lancaster KB889 was built in Canada in 1944 by Victory Aircraft Ltd, was the first of 300 aircraft produced in Malton, Ontario. Powered by four Packard-built Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, it was test flown in December and delivered to Britain in March 1945 and assigned to No.428 Squadron...