In order to free up the LS&I #21 thread I am opening this one for feature discussion of the LS&I #32 and any other steamer used as target practice at Eglin AFB.

If the mods could move all the LS&I #32 stuff from the LS&I 21 thread to this one I would be greatful.

Robert

you could do a series of cross cutting quotes into your post, than mess up the thread movement in that thread, the irony in that time a steam engine used as target practice, but we have seen one fellow trying to start a Luisiana and Eastern rairoad using former NKP engines and others only to find they all went to scrap...big sigh...

From the LS&I 21 thread.

"My hunch is that it's sitting someplace on the base, long forgotten. Really need a local retired USAF guy to go on the hunt. Know anyone?"

It's not likely that would be enough. It's doubtful any remains (if any exist) would have been removed from a bombing range and simply stored somewhere on base for decades. Air base commanders don't like to accumulate what they see as unsightly junk. Also, some bases have turned over unused tracks to their MWR (Morale, Welfare & Recreation) branches to dispose of as scrap to help fund such things as MWR's officer clubs. Old locomotive hulks would not fare any better.

Bombing ranges, even those no longer used, are almost invariably off limits to all but those in Range Control, because they're likely to be littered with unexploded ordnance, so wandering around the nether regions of a base's bombing range, looking for what might be left of an old locomotive, is out of the question for both retired and active duty personnel.

One's best bet is to simply ask the base's Range Control office if they're aware of a steam locomotive being downrange now or in the past. If it's gone, ask what might have been done with it. Active duty personnel tend to rotate out after a few years but, if there's a long-time civilian employee working in Range Control, you might be able to tap his knowledge of what once existed, and what previous employees told him. It has, after all, been a long time since the late 1960s.

I seem to recall something in an old TRAINS Magazine about one of the exK&T 2-8-2s being used as a target, though I don't remember if that was at Eglin,

At any rate, K&T had 3 Mikes when they dieselized. 2 ended up at TVRM.

IIRC, one was dressed up as 6910 and ran a trip or two. It's been sitting at the museum ever since AFAIK. The other is Southern 4501, of course.

So, what became of the third one?

K&T #10 and #12 ended up at TVRM. The #10 was in pretty rough shape when it was dressed up as the 6910 and got sidelined very quickly. My understanding is that the boiler shell is super thin in some places.

The other Mikado #11 (the ALCO) was sold to the Army and moved to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds and used to shove around large targets. It was "accidently" shelled and destroyed in 1966.

Thanks. Had my firing ranges (and branches of the service) confused. Result is the same, however.

Regarding the Eglin AFB target locomotive, I have been doing research on the Eglin base railroad for many years, and compiled most of the Wikipedia article about it.

I have traced virtually all of the right of way and am convinced that no rolling stock or engines are anywhere on the line. The only locomotive I have confirmed on the line was the (presumably) former Lake Superior & Ishpeming 2-8-0 No. 32 which was dubbed the "Eglin Queen" but was apparently not numbered. It was initially retired in 1959 and sat for a time on the wye where the base railroad connected to the L&N at Mossy Head, Florida.

I have found UPI and AP wire service articles that confirm that the engine was reactivated by March 1967 and operated under remote control as a target for aircraft working out tactics to attack the North Vietnamese rail system. I have also seen a color photo of the engine being inundated with air to ground rockets that I assume ended its use as a target.

In the late 1970s, I walked part of the right of way of the spur that led to Eglin Auxiliary Field 2 (Pierce Field), now completely removed, and I found and photographed a piece of junk that looked remarkably like a steam or sand dome alongside the track. This leads me to believe that it was the sole artifact of the engine which I assume was scrapped after the rocket attack.

The only active portion of the base line is the interchange at the CSX connection, where DODX flatcars occasionally are still dropped off. The remaining portions of the line that are still in place are completely overgrown and have been out of service since the late 1970s.

I hope this is helpful.

Mr Sublette, The problem with this information would be the years. LS&I #32 was not sold to the USAF until the 1960's. The loco known as the Elgin Queen would have had to be from another source to be retired by 1959 and parked on the siding. This would leave me to believe they bought two steam locos to destroy.

The mystery of the LS&I 32 & the Elgin Queen still goes on.

Robert

Elgin is the largest military air base in the world. They do training for Special Operations there and have a lot of stuff they don't want people knowing about. Heck, down one road several years ago I was shocked to see a line of modern airplanes including a Russian HIND attack chopper and a MIG-29 just sitting in the sand! They have a lot of Russian and Chinese military vehicles as well, some of which I've been told are still runable.
They also still have launching stands for old V-1 'flying bomb' missiles from right after WW2 and they're not keen on people nosing around those, even though they've been declassified ages ago. Years ago, a friend of mine tried to get down to one of the auxiliary fields to try to see if he could photo what he was told were the remains of markings of a aircraft carrier outline on a field, used by the Doolittle Raiders at the start of WW2. Hardly a secret today, but he was denied to even go down there.
My point? There could even be a NYC Hudson somewhere among those pines, but if the USAF doesn't want you there are wants to hide it, trust me, you will never get to see it.

I do not know anything about Elgin AFB, but I do know that the Doolittle raid was trained at a Army Air Corp base ar Wendover, Utah. The air field and some of the base buildings are still there. There is a small museum in one of the hangers with lots of information and photos of the training. The runway that was used to train for the raid is still there and poles have been erected to show the limits of where the pilots were to take off.

Wendover is the first place on the Western Pacific there was water for the locomotives westbound after coming around the south end of the Great Salt Lake. The railroad built a wooden pipeline about 20 miles from the top of a near by mountain to get the water. A WP water tank remains with a monument on it telling the story of water to Wendover.

Are you people typing these posts on crApple phones, or have you just forgotten the need to spell?

Elgin is a town, Elgin is a watch company, Elgin was a famous brand of street sweeper. But the name of the air-force base is EGLIN. Fred died to get his name there; the least you can do is respect that supreme sacrifice.

David, I'm wondering if you're getting your raids confused. I can't find anything about Wendover being used for the Doolittle raid, but it was used for training for the Enola Gay bombing of Hiroshima. The pits to load the atomic bombs are still there as is the hanger that housed the Enola Gay.

The Doolittle group was initially assembled at the US Army Air Corps' Columbia Army Air Field, 8 miles south of South Carolina's capital city. Columbia Air Base was chosen because it already was a training base for B-25's, along with the nearby Congaree Army Air Field and North Army Air field. After initial in-processing and some flights, the group quietly flew south to Eglin Army Air Field for the bulk of their training & practice.

When they were ready for the mission they flew west to San Francisco. Given the relatively short range of the B-25 I'm sure there were at least two fuel and rest stops. I would guess that because of the secrecy of the Japan raid, Wendover Army Air Field would be a perfect spot to refuel. Even today Wendover is relatively remote. It was even more so back in 1942 what with no gambling casinos to brighten the nighttime sky.

Wendover was a B-17 training base initially and later transitioned to B-29 training. There were multiple bombing ranges in Utah and Nevada that are still used today for that purpose. Then there's area 51.

Happy Independence Day! And a big THANK YOU to those was served in the past and are presently defending our great Nation.

Thanks!

Jim you missed your local connection, the Doolittle B-25s were modified for long range by the Mid-Continent Airlines modification center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Just down the road from you.

-Hudson