The Fall of Baldwin Locomotive Works | From the Leader in Steam to Defunct | History in the Dark

Baldwin Locomotive Works had a humble beginning as a machine shop started by Matthias W. Baldwin in 1825. Stumbling into the growing railroad locomotive market, Baldwin would become the number one producer of steam locomotives over the following decades and well into the 20th century. However, a few key short-sighted decisions would lead to the companies swift and sudden collapse as diesels began to replace steam locomotives and left Baldwin with very little to offer.

0:00 - Intro
1:54 - Beginnings
5:19 - Success in the Market
8:54 - The Assumptions
14:42 - Ignorance and Complacency
20:13 - An Impossible Battle
25:48 - Dying Breaths
27:45 - Never Forgotten

"Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railway locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it moved to nearby Eddystone in the early 20th century. The company was for decades the world's largest producer of steam locomotives, but struggled to compete when demand switched to diesel locomotives. Baldwin produced the last of its 70,000-plus locomotives in 1951, before merging with the Lima-Hamilton Corporation on September 11, 1951, to form the Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Corporation."

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[vincentberkan]

Another thing I love about Baldwin is that Matthias Baldwin was also an abolitionist. He was an outspoken supporter for the abolition of slavery in the United States, a position that was used against him and his firm by competitors eager to sell locomotives to railroads based in the slaveholding South. In 1835, he donated money to establish a school for African-American children in Philadelphia and continued to pay the teachers' salaries out of his own pocket for years thereafter. Baldwin was a member of the 1837 Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention and emerged as a defender of voting rights for the state's black male citizens.

[danbernstein]

My father was the industrial real estate broker who handled the sale of the Eddystone plant to Vertol, now Boeing Vertol. When the deal was done, he had to figure out what to with the life size statue of Matthais Baldwin. My mother refused to let him put it in our back garden. I think it was donated to county historical society.

[Nightmare_]

i was really happy with how they handled things, no corruption, paying their workers properly, pioneering technology, until they stopped looking to the future

[AndrewTheRocketCityRailfan]

There were only few railroads that ordered more steam locomotives from ALCO than Baldwin, like Union Pacific and New York Central. Just shows how dominant Baldwin was in the golden age of steam

[mityace]

SMS in New Jersey is famous for continuing to run Baldwin diesels. Growth and the normal issues of running museum pieces forced SMS to pick up some used EMDs as well.

[trainsbyben]

Can't add much to the content except that it was informative and interesting. The steamers were all but gone by the time I arrived in 1956. Rode my first train in the 1st grade with my class on a 20 or so mile trip to a little town north of our town and rode a school bus on the newly constructed Interstate 75 back to our school. It is still a fond memory, and now I video trains for you tube. Still love trains! Come to a look.

[brianferus]

My father started to work at the Eddystone plant before the war. He tried to enlist after Pearl Harbour and when he told them where he worked they told him to go back to work. Told me the made quite a lot of engines for Russia.

[arailway]

I have developed into a jake-leg railroad theorist.
This is a lovely review of the Baldwin company's history.
If we pull back a bit, we see that Baldwin, Alco, and EMC
tended to be manufactured in the North.
What happened to the railroads in the South?
Corinth, Mississippi was captured in 1862.
Savannah, Georgia and its rail interests were taken in 1864.
The much vaunted transcontinental railroad from Iowa
to California was completed in 1869.
The Southern route would not be completed until 1881.
Sherman bent a lot of rails on the way to Baldwin's success.
The South wanted a railroad, but the Civil War got in the way.

[irishtank]

Going to break my heart when you reach Lima Loco. They tore down the sheds in the 90s.

Thankfully Allen County Museum has dutifully preserved the blue prints for the engines. They are common visit spot for Lionel and other train hoppy companies.

[-_Spiral_-]

Baldwin gave me and the rest of Pennsylvania Reading & Northern 425, my favorite steamer. That’s enough to make me happy.

[kenthansen]

Baldwin supplied the US Army with knock-down locomotives in the first WW, that when unloaded in French ports, any part could be used to assemble a locomotive. As far as I am aware, the first example or truly "Mass-Manufactured", interchangeable components of a complex mechanism.

[Alex-ioel]

The fact that several dozen of their locomotives are not only in preservation but still in active service is a testament to Baldwin's build quality. They are honestly the Toyota of railroading.

[davidsellars]

The way I recall hearing it from a locomotive salesman, Baldwin, ALCO, and Lima salesmen all got along, drank each other's whiskey and smoked their cigars. If they didn't get an order, they would get the next one. EMD was cutthroat. The railroads were told that if you want to ship automobiles, you need to do it behind EMD locomotives That is why so many steam locomotives in there prime met the torch. It wasn't that EMD locomotives were all that much better.

[theenigmaticst]

A brilliant summary of the rise and fall of BLW - I like this content, Darkness; please keep it up!!!

[xXx_ToxicPea_xXx]

I noticed that much of the footage depicting the manufacture of steam locomotives comes from a 1935 documentary titled “No. 6237 a Study in Steel” by the LMS. It’s a great documentary worth watching.

[atomicpunk]

Baldwin also made a lot of other products at Eddystone including ship propellers, hydraulic presses, and water turbines for power generation to name a few. Different company divisions all in the Eddystone plant.

[Tom-Lahaye]

The Baldwin story is so similar to that of the North British Locomotive works, they also were one of the largest locomotive builders, exporting many thousands of steam locomotives over the world, but they also were not successful in building diesel locomotives.
One of the license holders of BLH was the Cockerill company in Belgium, they produced some of the diesel engine types from Baldwin but also Hamilton, like the 608A, and used them in locomotives for the Belgium railways but also some export models for Argentina and countries in Africa.
The Belgian locomotives classes 51 and 59 powered by the 608A engine fared pretty well being withdrawn completely not earlier than 2001-2004 respectively.

[Transit_Biker]

As someone who lives in an area where Budd and Baldwin both had their main presence, the stories of their downfall is always so frustrating.

[harrisonallen]

The biggest railway locomotive factory for its time

[hirisk]

Baldwin: Diesels aren't the future steam is!
EMD: HAHAHA watch this!