Baldwin: Over 70,000 Built

Andrew Catherine

Everyone remembers fondly the first time they saw a steam engine, whether it
was in person or on TV as “Thomas the Tank Engine”. These incredibly
complex machines were and are fascinating to see. Many of these machines
can trace their roots back to the Baldwin Locomotive Works that produced
them in, and later, just outside of Philadelphia. In the golden era of the steam
engine, Baldwin was one of the big three locomotive manufactures--Lima,
American Locomotive Company, and the Baldwin Locomotive Works-- in the
United States and was a integral part of the economy during the late 19th and
early 20th century of the state and the country.

The Basics of What Baldwin Built

A steam locomotive, like the engines Baldwin built, is an external combustion
engine that generates heat and uses this heat to boil water creating steam
which drives a set of pistons to create motion which in turn moves the train.
Fired by wood, coal, or oil a steam locomotive burns the fuel in a boiler creating
steam at high rate and a high pressure . This steam is collected and channeled
into piston cylinders at a controlled rate via a throttle valve that determines
the speed and power of the steam locomotive.
Depending on the locomotive, the steam may act on up to two sets of cylinders
(double expanding - where the first set operates at a higher pressure and then
second set on a larger lower pressure set to maximize efficiency). Additionally,
the generated steam may be heated after being created, called superheating, to
greatly increase the temperature of the steam. This increases the efficiency of
the engine but has the detrimental effect of increasing wear on parts in contact
with the superheated steam. A steam locomotive may have from 4 to over 20
wheels depending on the type of route the locomotive is designed to travel on
and whether the engine will pull heavier freight or lighter passenger cargo.
All of these pieces work together to provide a highly efficient means of travel via
rail. Baldwin Locomotive Works built steam engines that all used these basic
ideas but then refined them and over time added more complex components
that increased the power, the speed, and the efficiency of the locomotives.

FIGURE #1 HERE

In the Beginning…
As with many ventures, Matthias Baldwin’s path that lead to the creation of the
Baldwin Locomotive Works in the 1830’s began in the opposite direction of
what it would become. In the 1820's Baldwin was a jeweler in Philadelphia but
due to low demand, he shifted his focus to book binding. This interlude into
printing machinery did not last, but it did exposed Baldwin to small steam
engines used to power the equipment. In 1831, the Franklin Perle Museum of
Philadelphia requested from Matthias Baldwin a model of a British steam
engine so that patrons could ride this new invention in the museum. From this
model he began an import-manufacturing business creating British steam
engines from drawings he acquired. Baldwin quickly learned the trade and
improved upon the British design to better suit the more rugged and non-ideal
rail conditions found in the United States. By 1835 Baldwin purchased a shop
for the Baldwin Locomotive works on Broad Street in Philadelphia and by 1836
produced 40 steam engines.

Ups and Downs

The American economy through the Civil War was one of great booms and
busts and thus Baldwin’s shops would one year produce 40 or 50 engines and
the next only 20. However by now Baldwin’s little enterprise had grown from a
backroom tinkerer to one of the largest locomotive manufactures in the country.
As the Western frontier was settled and the Eastern US was urbanized, the
railroads grew to accommodate the demand for long distance passenger and
freight transportation. By the late 1860’s Baldwin’s designs incorporated much
light and stronger steel boilers and were recognized as being safe, rugged, and
innovative.
The most successful freight locomotive in North America was created by
Baldwin designer Alexander Mitchell in 1866. His design was called the
Consolidation type steam engines and combined the power needed to pull
heavy freight with the ability to sustain this at higher speeds. Other
manufactures soon copied the design and by the end of the steam era, over
33,000 Consolidation type locomotives were produced by the big three
locomotive companies. This highlights the creative and innovative nature that
Baldwin maintained till the Great Depression.
However in 1866 founder Matthias Baldwin died. The company then passed
through several partnerships before being incorporated as a publicly owned
company in 1911.

FIGURE #2 HERE
The Big Move
By 1906 with an economic boom and advances in technology and the size of
locomotives, Baldwin needed to expand out of its original Philadelphia shop
neighborhood and Eddystone was the answer. Just southwest of Philadelphia,
Eddystone was close to the railroads mainline and offered space for a new and
expanded factory. As the ink dried on the contracts to build the Eddystone
plants, the Panic of 1907 caused orders for locomotives to fall to 617 in 1908
from 2666 in 1906. Baldwin never recovered the clear dominance it had in the
early 1900's and spent the rest of the pre-WWI years struggling. However
Baldwin still shifted its operations to the more modern spacious Eddystone
plant and sold off the Philadelphia shops.

FIGURE #3 HERE

As with any large company, Baldwin had labor relations issues that resulted in
strikes in 1911 and 1912 as the company transitioned to Henry Ford's
production line model and replaced skilled craftsman with machinery and
unskilled labor. The labor issues would return after WWII as Baldwin struggled
to adapt to a post steam country.

FIGURE #4 HERE

WWI and the Great Depression

After the labor issues and loss of orders following the 1907 Panic, when war
broke out in Europe in 1914, Baldwin quickly began to produce weapons,
ammunitions, and steam locomotives for the Allies. The Baldwin Works
produced its 30,000th locomotive in June 1913 and quickly increased
production so that by September 1918 number 40,000 was rolling off the
production line.
The 1920's were the start of a decline for Baldwin as the company was
beginning to lose its innovative sprit. Now Baldwin was playing catch up with
Lima to produce larger and faster steam engines. In 1923 the New York Times
reported that 50 miles of locomotives were produced in the previous year but
without innovation Baldwin’s production began to decline. The stock crash of
1929 did not immediately cause great collapse at the Baldwin Works, but by
1935 after a decade of so-so revenues, Baldwin was forced to declare
bankruptcy. Once the leading locomotive company with great cachet was now
in financial ruin. While hope appeared in the mid 1930’s as the Pennsylvania
Railroad had Baldwin produce its GG1 electric locomotives--one of the most
successful electric engines in the United States--Baldwin could never regain its
market dominance.

WWII and a Failure to Adapt

With the development of another war in Europe, Baldwin once again fell into
producing military goods however this time excluding the new diesel-electric
locomotives that were going to be the future of the locomotive market. As seen
below, the Baldwin plant continued to produce its iconic steam engines.

FIGURE #5 HERE

After the war Baldwin still produced a few concept steam engines and small
diesel switching engines for railroad yard work, but Baldwin was forced to
merge with competing Lima-Hamilton works. Due to the changing economy,
low demand for their products, and labor issues Baldwin produced its final
locomotive in 1954. This last diesel switcher was the last of 70,541 locomotives
built (actually numbered 76140 but 5,599 of these numbers belonged to war
materials not locomotives). While not closing untill 1971, what remained of the
Baldwin works produced construction tools.

A Close and a Memorial

With the end of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, the Eddystone plant that once
employed over 17,000 has slowly been redeveloped into other manufacturing
plants but never with the same impact that the Baldwin plant had.

In 1926 a special engine was built to commemorate the 60,000th engine

produced. Number 60,000 was donated to the Franklin Institute in
Philadelphia as a display piece after being used as a test or "concept" engine. In
1933 four blocks of rail was laid over city streets to move the more than
700,000 pound engine into the new museum. During all the subsequent
renovations number 60,000 has been left in place as it is too massive to easily
move. Thus even today it is possible to visit the Railroad Hall at the Franklin
Institute and walk through one of Baldwin's locomotives.

FIGURE #6 HERE
It is a fitting tribute to the Baldwin Locomotive Works, which played such an
important part in America's expansion and the Pennsylvanian economy for
decades, that an example of their work can still be seen.

Bibliography

"$80,000,000 Shell Order. Baldwin Locomotives Said to Have Closed Contract

with Allies." The New York Times 15 July 1915.

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May 1884.

"Baldwin Lays Off 4,000." The New York Times 23 December 1950.

"Baldwin Locomotive Works, Eddystone, Pa." Circa 1948. Delaware County

History. 19 May 2010
<http://www.delawarecountyhistory.com/images/EddystonePA.Baldwin
LocomotiveWorksfromtheair.c.1948pcp.jpg>.

"Baldwin Plant to Close." The New York Times 5 September 1914.

"Baldwin Strike Spreads. Labor Leaders Say 10,000 of 14,000 at Locomotive

Works Have Quit. ." The New York Times 9 June 1911.

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Hopkins University Press, 1995.

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Marx, Thomas G. "Technological Change an the Theory of the Firm: The

American Locomotive Industry, 1920-1955." Business History Review 50
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being razed, implosion set for December 10 for gas plant." Delaware
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Pictures

Figure 1- Basic layout of a steam locomotive.

(http://straction.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/steam-engine.jpg)
Figure 2- A picture of a Delaware, Lackawanna & Western "Consolidation" Type
freight locomotive- the most successful freight locomotive in North America.
(Solomon 31)
Figure 3 - A aerial picture of the Eddystone Factory in 1949.
(http://www.delawarecountyhistory.com/images/EddystonePA.BaldwinLocomotiveWorksfromtheair.c.194
8pcp.jpg)
Figure 4- A picture of the Baldwin Locomotive Works production floor in the
1910's. (Miller, Vogel, and Allen 79)
Figure 5- A picture of the factory floor at the Baldwin Locomotive Works
Factory at Eddystone, Pa January 21, 1942. (Solomon 9)
Figure 6- Baldwin Locomotive # 60,000 produced in 1926 for the Franklin
Institute. (Solomon 74)