Near my hometown, at Corson, SD, is an "Eastern South Dakota Farmer’s Co-Op Elevator. For the last dozen or so years, there has been an old Baldwin switcher sitting behind it, on a siding. ( I think it was an S-2?) ’ Never saw it move. In fact, it had a pretty good sized tree growing up through part of it. Today when I was by there, it was up on blocks. The engine hood, engine, and trucks had been removed. After all these years, would there be any (railroad) salvage for Baldwin engines and trucks? Maybe they’re being sent up near Nanaimo, BC, to refurbish some long-lost Baldwins?[:D] Are there any active Baldwins left?
I’m sure they just sent them up for refurbishment…not much of a market for spare parts, and they would have probably scrapped the whole thing if they were getting rid of it. It should be back on it’s trucks in no time, lol.
The railroads loved Baldwins. They had huge cylinders and since they previously built steam engines they were rugged and would keep pulling long after the other brands shut down. There are still some around and somebody may have scavenged what they could to keep one or two running.
Baldwin diesels were indeed rugged but they were an absolute bear to maintain. The Westinghouse electrical system could take more abuse but when an electrical component failed, repair was a bigger chore than with corresponding GE or EMD electricals. The De La Vergne engine never outgrew its marine origins and was also not designed for ease of maintenance. Most of them were bad oil leakers and the plumbing and electrical lines were not laid out to avoid each other.
Murphy,
Our Baldwins are long gone.[:(]
There is an outfit in New Jersey that has several. (SMS ?)
By the way, the last surviving warship from the attack on Pearl Harbour was a cruiser that was sold to Argentina and then sunk by a British submarine back in 1980.
http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/ships/html/sh_037100_generalbelgr.htm
SMS is indeed the outfit that seems to have the only active Baldwin Diesel locomotives in the country. They are mostly used in southern New Jersey near Philadelphia. As for museum operators, there is an active Baldwin at the Illinois rail museum as well as the only surviving centercab transfer unit MN&S 23, a DT 6-6-2000 ( some times called a DT6-6-1000/2, depending upon the reference work one looks at.) it, to my knowledge, is a static piece. There are other Baldwins here and there, most of 'em are “stuffed and mounted”, except the RF16s in upper Michigan, whose status is unclear. Can some one clarify this matter, please?
There are three Baldwin diesels at IRM: a DT-6-6-2000 (operable), an AS-416 (display) and a switcher (display).
Alco made the S-2; Baldwins switchers were the V-series, the DS-X-X-XX series, and the S12.
And an S8.
We went to take some photos of the Corson engine last year, and we asked the manager if we could get some photos of it. The first thing he said was that if we had a good offer we could have it! He said in the 13 or so years he has worked there, it has never moved a inch. He said the block was cracked, and they couldn’t find a part anywhere. The tree in it, he said, was about a 7 year old tree.
Phil
We have a Baldwin up here, not sure of the classification.
You did much better than I did find the ship info. [:)] We also had a computer virus, that hampered my efforts.[:(]
There was a link to photo of this particualr locomotive posted earlier. Does anybody know what it is for sure? S-12?
Murphy,
This is where that link came from.
http://yardlimit.railfan.net/baldwindiesels/existing/
Your locomotive is about 10 down the page.
http://www.thedieselshop.us/SMS.HTML
They are stored indoors, unserviceable but repairable.
At the Orange Empire Railway Museum, we have a VO-1000. It has some water leaks, but the main reason we can’t run it is that its batteries run on 64 volts as opposed to teh standard 100 volts, and we can’t find 64 volt ones.
This is how I understand it. I could be completely wrong.
Sincerely,
Daniel Parks
Can’t you gang up some lower voltage batteries?
Speaking of Baldwins what happened to Trona’s old ones that went back east in the 90s?
The three AS616s are listed here under SLRS-
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoList.aspx?mid=371
Ahhh, ours is a VO-1000
Since when is 100 volts “standard on locomotives”? If you need 64 volts, purchase eight, eight volt batterys or two, 32 volt “unitized” batterys.
Are they still active?