The Baldwin
Locomotive Works was the largest and most successful locomotive building
firm in the world. It was begun as a machine shop owned and operated by
Matthias W. Baldwin in 1831. Baldwin turned out its first locomotive engine
from its shop in Philadelphia in 1832; within a few years the company was
producing two a month and employed 240 men. By 1852, 500 engines had been
produced; by 1861, 1,000; and by 1868, 2,000. At that point, the company
employed between 1,600-1,700 men, and was one of the very largest machine
works in the nation. In 1906 Baldwin began construction of a large
auxiliary plant in the Philadelphia suburb of Eddystone. In 1928 the Broad
Street plant was closed and all work transferred to the Eddystone Plant.
Baldwin had been forced by hard financial times to take on a series of partners between 1839 and 1846, and the firm's name changed repeatedly as a result. It was known as Baldwin, Vail & Hufty (1839-1842); Baldwin & Whitney (1842-1845); M. W. Baldwin (1846-1853); and M. W. Baldwin & Co. (1854-1866). After Baldwin's death in 1866 the firm was known as M. Baird & Co. (1867-1873); Burnham, Parry, Williams & Co. (1873-1890); Burnham, Williams & Co. (1891-1909); it was finally incorporated as the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1909.
As well as the
2-4-2T tank Lyn for the L&B, the Baldwin works built two 2-6-2T
Prairie tank engines for Victorian Railways (VR) in 1898. They were used
as a trial on the new 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge railways. Fifteen
more NA class locomotives were built by VR. Unfortunately only six have
survived and both of the original Baldwin engines were among those
scrapped.
The company's phenomenal growth ended with in the mid-1920s as the U.S. railroad industry began its long decline. Despite various mergers and acquisitions--and an increased attention to the development of diesel engines--a slow but sure decline set in. Baldwin declared bankruptcy in 1935. World War Two brought a temporary respite, but after the war the steam locomotive was obsolete and orders rapidly diminished. The Westinghouse Corporation bought Baldwin in 1948 but was unable to turn the company around. In 1950 the Lima-Hamilton Corporation and Baldwin merged but in 1956 the last of some 70,541 locomotives was produced.
Sources: History of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831-1902, (1902); A Short History of American Locomotive Builders in the Steam Era, John H. White, (1982).