Baldwin 60000
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Baldwin 60000 is an experimental steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Eddystone, Pennsylvania in 1926, during the height of the railroading industry. It received its number for being the 60,000th locomotive built by Baldwin.[1]
It was designed to be the best locomotive that Baldwin ever made. It boasts three cylinders, weighed about 350 short tons (318 t; 313 long tons), including tender, and can pull a load of up to 7,000 short tons (6,400 t; 6,200 long tons). Its top speed is 70 mph (110 km/h).
60000 was very innovative, carrying unusual technology, including a water-tube firebox. This was intended to improve efficiency but the tubes tended to burst inside the firebox. It is also a compound, expanding the steam once in the inside cylinder and then again in the two outside cylinders. Although compounding increased efficiency, it was an extra complication that the US railroads had mostly rejected by the middle twenties.[2] Also, the weight and length of the engine was too much for all but the heaviest and straightest track.
This locomotive was experimental and was meant to be the model for future development. However, its demonstration runs never persuaded railroads to purchase more and in 1933, it was purchased by the Franklin Institute Science Museum for $1[3] and remains there today.
References
- ↑ "Baldwin 60000". Loco Locomotive gallery.
- ↑ C.B. Peck (ed.). 1950-52 Locomotive Cyclopedia of American Practice. New York: Simmons-Boardman. pp. 500–538. Of 102 locomotives listed in detail, only 2 were compound, the N&W Y6 and the C&O H-6.
- ↑ "RailPictures.Net Photo: BLW 60000 Baldwin Locomotive Works Steam 4-10-2 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Mitch Goldman". www.railpictures.net. Retrieved 2016-03-13.
- Drury, George H. Guide to North American Steam Locomotives. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing Company. pp. 202, 362, 391. ISBN 0-89024-206-2.
- "Three-Cylinder Steam Locomotives". Steamlocomotive.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2008. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
- "The Baldwin Locomotive Works Locomotive number 60,000". Retrieved 15 January 2009.