I'm on the e-mail list of Pentrex. Recently, the e-mails have begun featuring the "Photo of the Day." I thought yesterday's picture was worthy of posting here. According to the notes, the train is Number 25, the Metropolitan, westbound east of Pittsburgh. Dated July 1951, it was taken by Mr. Willard Harvey. Evidently, the Baldwins were having trouble and the K4s has been added to assist them.
Bob
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Evidently, the Baldwins were having trouble and the K4s has been added to assist them.
Bob
Probably not uncommon with those Baldwins.
VERY nice shot!
There is the story that the PRR placed those locos finnally as helper/snapper power on Horseshoe curve because if they did fail there, they could coast to Altoona via gravity!
Thank you posting this photo.
Didn't know the centipedes handled train 25 and that they were still in passenger service in 1951..
the PRR had high hopes for those big Baldwins, even to the point of having them pull their Blue Ribbon trains. Alas the units were quickly prone to breakdown and were relegated to second tier trains and ultimately pusher service.
the photo most likely shows a K4s to the rescue!
the PRR had high hopes for those big Baldwins, even to the point of having them pull their Blue Ribbon trains. Alas the units were quickly prone to breakdown and were relegated to second tier trains and ultimately pusher service.
the photo most likely shows a K4s to the rescue!
Chris
Youare correct.
One of the first assignments was the Broadway Limited.
It was tough to be more blue ribbon than that.
Making to Gallitizin with all four prime movers running was a cause to celebrate! Here was a rare case where steam was cheaper to operate than....(I hesitate to call those 'Pedes Diesels!)
Baldwin diesels having problems? Gee...there's a surprise. 
The Frisco loved their VO1000's and ran them up into the early 70's. They were reliable as a hammer. As a young man in my late teens, I was fortunate to be on a few of them several times. They were very fast to load and could lug amazing tonnages. To this day I have vivid mental images of the sights, sounds, and even the wonderful smell of the cabs, of those old Frisco VO's.
Good observation. Even the Penn found the Baldwin shifters to be an OK machine, but the road units were far more prone to glitches....usually electrical, but not always. Case in point; P&WV #40, an AS616, built in 1951, and leased to PRR for nearly it's entire life. She was used in low speed service and obviously pleased the Penn during the period they had her. The passenger units, especially the 'Pedes, were basket cases, looking for a place to happen!
The NWS Earle Railroad here in Central Jersey ran Baldwin switchers into the 80s. Their ability to start and pull heavy loads was fearsome. I recall them running trains of 75 to 100 cars with one unit between Colts Neck and Leonardo during the Vietnam years when the railroad was running close to capacity. They didn't pull them fast but they pulled them.
Bob
An interesting story regarded the pulling power of Baldwins can be told regarding the Ironton Railroad 751, a DS4-4-1000. The Ironton Railroad was a shortline railroad in the Allentown, PA area which, because of its joint Lehigh Valley/Reading ownership, was absorbed along with its parent roads into Conrail in 1976.
Many of the yard and local jobs in the Allentown area were known for their heavy loads. As a result of its impressive pulling ability, the 751 immediately became the power of choice for local crews and arguments over who would get it for the day were said to have ensued. The 751 was the last operating Baldwin on the Conrail until its retirement in '77 and subsequent scrapping. It's a shame it wasn't preserved.
Bowser released an HO model of the 751 and I was thankfully able to purchase it:
Bob
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