Baldwin Locomotive Works. World War Ii Armament & Steam Locomotive Boilers Photographs

BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKS

Publication: Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1940 - 1944, Eddystone, PA

First edition. 9 3/8" x 11 3/4" oblong, black cloth binder with titles stamped in gold gilt on the front cover, contains forty-eight 7 3/4" x 10" black & white photographs each individually housed in a transparent protective folder. Most of the photographs are dated and have identifying numbers at the lower corners of the images, as well as three with pen annotations and one with a "BLH" stamp to the verso. "BLH" most likely stands for Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton, the name into which the company eventually evolved. This remarkable album of company photographic images vividly portray Baldwin's wartime military WWII production, showing their tanks, artillery, railroad guns, rolling stock, and steam locomotives, as dictated by the War Production Board. This photo archive begins with a series of photos of the M3 Medium tank, including the General Lee, General Grant, M31 Tank Recovery Vehicle, 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7, along with the M4 Sherman Tank. The photographs show the tanks on maneuvers, negotiating steep hills, driving in formation outside the Baldwin Locomotive factory in Eddystone, and even the firm's president, Charles Brinley riding in an M3. This followed by a series of images showing the manufacture and delivery of the 8-inch Railway gun mount, the Barbette Carriage constructed so that it was capable of a 360-degree traverse, and 45-degree elevation, designed primarily for use as a coastal defensive gun. The photos portray the construction of the mountings, the barrels, and pumps necessary for elevating the gun, and the delivery ceremony when it was officially turned over to the Army Ordnance Department on Feb. 7, 1941. This gun was capable of hurling a 260-pound shell a distance of 18 miles. Brigadier General R. W. Case, Commanding General of Watertown Arsenal, and Major D.N. Hauseman, Executive Officer, Philadelphia Ordnance District officially accepted the gun from Charles E. Brinley, also pictured in the photos. This was the first railroad gun manufactured by Americans since 1918, and several are shown in various stages of manufacture on the factory floor. The concluding group of images show the fabrication of steam boilers for Steam locomotives and machined fittings, as well as rolling stock tenders, and switchers. Unfortunately for Baldwin Locomotives, the War Production Board ordered them to produce only steam locomotives and diesel-electric yard switching engines depriving them of the chance to develop their diesel locomotive line during the War. After World War II, they were too far behind EMD and Alco, so even after merging with Lima-Hamilton in 1950, they were out of business by 1956. The boiler pictured in a few of the images was for a 2-8-2 steam locomotive used by the Canadian Transcontinental Railway after the war.

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