#Baldwin serial numbers serial numbers
For more reading about Baldwin's short, but fascinating, diesel locomotive line please click here.PIANO SERIAL NUMBERS PIANO SERIAL NUMBERS AB Chaseġ900- 42000 1910- 54000 1920- 62000 1930-72000 In 1965 BLH was sold to Armour & Company, which itself was purchased by the Greyhound Corporation in 1970, which dissolved BLH by 1972. It ceased production on diesels by 1955 and a year later had exited the market altogether focusing on the heavy machinery business instead. The models listed above, and variations of them, proved to be the extent that Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton would compete in the diesel market. Later, in 1950 it was reequipped with a new prime mover, the model 308A and Baldwin commissioned legendary industrial engineer Raymond Loewy, who based the unit after the Pennsylvania's streamlined T-1 steam locomotive (Loewy was always well known for several designs among many different railroads, particularly during the streamliner revolution).ĭubbed the "Sharknose" by historians and railfans the model designation was changed to RF-16 because the new engine provided 1,600 horsepower. Originally the model had a low nose and big front windshields, giving it the affectionate term of "Baby Face." To compete with EMD and Alco in the passenger locomotive market Baldwin offered its version of a cab unit, the DR-4-4-1500, which was shrouded in a number of differing carbodies. The DT-6-6-2000 originally used Baldwin's 608NA engine while later DT-6-6-2000s and a newer version, the RT-624, used the 606 SC engine. The first model offered was the DT-6-6-2000. It fell into bankruptcy in 1935 due to the poor economic conditions of the time and just as the company was beginning to take serious interest in diesel locomotive research and development in the early 1940s World War II hit and the War Production Board forced the company to limit its production to only the VO-660 and VO-1000 models it was already manufacturing.Īlso in 1946 the Baldwin Locomotive Works launched a new catalog of diesels, transfer locomotives, which were meant to be used in drag service at slow speeds but offering exceptional tractive efforts during moves between yards or similar operations. Two other factors sharply hurt Baldwin's transition from steam to diesel production. This would prove unsuccessful and lead to further woes for the company in the future. Although these early switcher models actually proved to be very successful for Baldwin the company still clung to the belief that steam reigned supreme.īy doing so Baldwin took the approach of building diesels customized to a railroad's needs (as had been done with steam locomotives) rather than mass producing them. That same year Baldwin offered a 1,000 horsepower version, the VO-1000. The first model was the VO-660, which was a simple end-cab switcher that produced 660 horsepower and offered a B-B wheel arrangement (four axles per truck). Morris & De La Vergne company in 1931, which manufactured diesel engines.ĭe La Vergne produced a four-cycle diesel engine model known as the VO-series which Baldwin would use in its first line of switchers, also known as the VO-series, in 1939. The builder proved to be incredibly innovative in its approach to locomotive building, which is rather ironic considering management (notably president Samuel Vauclain of the 1920s) became very brisk towards diesel-electric technology which ultimately led to the company's undoing.įinally, in the late-1930s Baldwin officially broke into the diesel-electric locomotive market after it had acquired the I.P. It built models for the New Haven (EP-1, EF-1, and EP-2), Milwaukee Road (the EP-3 "Quills," which unfortunately proved to be Milwaukee's most problematic motors), and the Pennsylvania (P5A, R1, and contributed on the GG-1). Proved to troublesome, however, and was retired a few years later by the N&W.īaldwin also built a number of electric locomotives as early as the first decade of the 1900s. Machine, which looked like a large, over-sized diesel switcher, carriedġ2 powered axles and produced more than 4,500 horsepower.