After reading another post on this forum, I got to wondering about the Baldwin Centipedes. I couldn’t find anything around here on them, not even one blurry photo! Does anyone know where I could find (gasp!) drawings of these critters, or even good photos? I am also looking for drawings of the UP’s turbines, Alco C-855’s, and turbine framed U50’s. Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Morpar
check this web sitehttp://www.northeast.railfan.net/home.html
have nice day
nick
I checked both sites listed in replies, and the Northeast Railfan site is very good!! Thanks for the help, Morpar.
Hi Morpar,
You’ll find information and decent a black-and-white photo of a Baldwin Centipede on page 320 of “Diesel Locomotives: The First 50 Years” (Kalmbach).
Only 54 of these units were produced – 40 for U.S. railroads (24 for the Pennsylvania RR; 14 for the Seaboard Air Line; and two BLW demonstrators) and 14 for National Railways of Mexico.
“Unrealiable” is the first adjective that comes to mind regarding the Centipedes’ performance.
A drawing of an SAL Centipede was published in the July/August 1991 issue of “Diesel Era.” magazine.
Paul Schmidt
Contributing Editor
Trains.com
There are pictures of PRR Centipedes in Pennsy Power 2&3,and I’m sure the other PRR picture books also would have photos,(I didn’t go through them all to check).Also,Mainline Modeler announced recently a continuing series of Baldwin loco pictures and drawings.The smaller road-switchers,(DRS 4-4-1500,i.e.),were already published.
I’m presently building an “N” scale Baldwin Centipede,a challenging project I might say.I’m a fan of BIG locos and the Centipede is just that…huge.And what makes it more appealing to me is that in “N”,it will be “one of a kind”.How well it will roll remains to be seen but I’m quite confident it will do reasonably well on moderately tight curves.
Like you I’m looking for as much info as I can get for it and found interesting photos on the Net just by typing “Baldwin Centipede” on Google.There’s also a drawing available at http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/Diesels//sm_bh_50.gif I hope I,ve been of help.
KALBACH BOOKS has or had a book called “DIESELS FROM EDDYSTONE: THE STORY OF BALDWIN DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES”, lots of info on Centipedes. You may want to contact Kalmbach to see if it’s still print.