Baldwin VO-1000

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Baldwin VO-1000
Baldwin VO-1000
Western Pacific Railroad #581, a Baldwin VO-1000, is seen here in a September, 1945 builder's photo.
Power type Diesel-electric
BuilderBaldwin Locomotive Works
ModelVO-1000
Build dateJanuary 1939 —
December 1946
Total production548
AAR wheel arr.B-B
Gaugeft 8½ in (1435 mm)
Length48 ft 0 in (14.88 m)
Total weight236,260–242,200 lb
(107,000–110,000 kg)
Prime moverDe La Vergne VO
Engine type2-stroke diesel
AspirationFuel injection
Displacement15,895 in³ (260.5 L)
CylindersStraight-8
Cylinder size12.75 in × 15.55 in
(324 mm × 395 mm)
TransmissionDC generator,
DC traction motors
Power output1,000 hp (746 kW)
Tractive effort59,065–60,550 lbf
(263–269 kN)
Locomotive brakesStraight air
Train brakesAir
LocaleNorth America

The Baldwin VO-1000 was a diesel-electric switcher locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works between January, 1939 and December, 1946. The 236,260–242,200 lb (107,000–110,000 kg) units were powered by a normally-aspirated eight-cylinder diesel engine rated at 1,000 horsepower (746 kW), and rode on two-axle AAR Type-A switcher trucks in a B-B wheel arrangement. 548 examples of this model were built for American railroads, along with the United States Army and United States Navy. Baldwin replaced the VO-1000 with its model DS-4-4-10 locomotive in 1946.

A print advertisement from the June 5, 1943 issue of Railway Age features Frisco Lines #205, a Baldwin Model VO-1000 locomotive.

In the early 1960s the Reading Company sent 14 of their VO-1000s to General Motors Electro-Motive Division to have them rebuilt to SW900 specifications. These locomotives retained most of their original carbodies, and were subsequently given the designation VO-1000m. Around the same time, the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway repowered its VO1000s with turbocharged Baldwin engines taken from its EMD-repowered fleet of Baldwin DT-6-6-2000 locomotives. The work was performed at EJ&E's Joliet, Illinois workshops, and produced a finished unit that featured an offset exhaust stack and left-side turbocharger bulge, the latter being much like that found on Baldwin road switchers. The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad had eight of its VO100s repowered with EMD 567 series engines that produced 1,200 hp. The Great Northern Railway converted four VO-1000s into transfer cabooses in 1964. The units were stripped to their bare frames (the original trucks and distinctive cast steps were left in place) and fitted with 15-foot-long steel cabins.

In December of 1970 the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (following close on the heels of its highly-successful CF7 capital rebuilding program) produced a one-of-a-kind switcher locomotive, known to railfans as the "Beep," at its Cleburne, Texas service facility. The company hoped to determine whether or not remanufacturing its aging, non-EMD end cab switchers by fitting them with new EMD prime movers was an economically-viable proposition. In the end, the conversion procedure proved too costly and only the one unit was modified, though it remains in active service to this day.

Only seven intact examples of the VO-1000 are known to survive today, all of which are owned by railroad museums or historical societies.

Units produced

Railroad   Quantity   Road numbers
American Steel and Wire Company
1
12
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
58
2202–2259
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
9
606–609, 616, 617, 619, 621, 623
Baldwin Locomotive Works (demonstrator unit)
1
62000 (sold to the AT&SF and assigned road #2201)
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
25
413–437
Belt Railway of Chicago
2
401, 402
Bingham and Garfield Railway
2
801, 803
Canton Railroad
2
30, 31
Central of Georgia Railroad
3
22, 26, 27
Central Railroad of New Jersey
4
1062–1066
Chicago and North Western Railway
7
1024, 1037–1043
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad
30
9350–9379
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad
12
1680–1691
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
18
760–764
Chicago Short Line Railroad
3
100–102
Colorado and Wyoming Railroad
3
1107–1109
Defense Plant Corporation
2
262-1, 262-2
Detroit Terminal Railroad
2
101–102
Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway
10
475–484
Escanaba and Lake Superior Railway
1
100
Great Northern Railway
10
5332–5335, 139–144
International–Great Northern Railroad
3
9150–9152
Iowa Ordnance Plant
1
1-120
Kentucky and Indiana Terminal Railroad
4
44–47
Lehigh Valley Railroad
5
135–139
Litchfield and Madison Railroad
1
100
Louisville and Nashville Railroad
9
2202–2210
Macon, Dublin and Savannah Railroad
1
1000
Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway
2
D-145, D-340
Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway
1
310
Missouri Pacific Railroad
11
9103, 9117–9119, 9198, 9199
Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway
6
15, 30–34
New York Central Railroad
8
8600–8607
Northern Pacific Railway
28
108–112, 119–124, 153, 154, 159–174
Oliver Iron Mining Company
15
907–915, 918, 919, 922
Patapsco and Back Rivers Railway
4
70–73
Pennsylvania Railroad
8
5913–5920
Phelps-Dodge Corporation
2
9, 10
Philadelphia, Bethlehem and New England Railroad
2
251, 252
Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railroad
1
30
Reading Railroad
24
55–59, 71–89
St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway
5
9153–9155, 9160, 9161
St. Louis-San Francisco Railway
38
200–237
St. Louis Southwestern Railway
23
1000–1022
Seaboard Air Line Railroad
7
1400–1402, 1413–1416
Southern Pacific Railroad
25
1320–1329, 1371–1385
Southern Railway
1
DS-2205
Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway
5
30–34 (#31 built as BLW demonstrator unit #332)
Tennessee Coal and Iron
4
810–803
Tennessee Eastman Corporation
1
4
Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis
11
591–601
Union Pacific Railroad
6
1055–1060
Union Railroad
10
475–484
United States Navy
40
varied by location
United States Department of War
26
7126–7130, 7137–7140, 7143, 7225–7227, 7453–7457, 7461–7464,
V-1800, V-1801
Wabash Railroad
4
300–303
Western Maryland Railway
5
128–132
Western Pacific Railroad
5
581–585
Western Railway of Alabama
4
621–624

Footnote

Between June and August, 1945 Baldwin supplied 30 Co-Co road locomotives with 8-cylinder VO engines for export to the Soviet Union.

References

External links


Diesel locomotives built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works
Switchers: S-12, S-8, DS-4-4-10, DS-4-4-7.5, DS-4-4-6, VO-1000, VO-660
Road switchers: RS-12, AS-16, AS-416, AS-616, DRS-4-4-10, DRS-4-4-15, DRS-6-4-15, DRS-6-6-15, RS-12
Transfer units: DT-6-6-20, RT-624
Cab units: DR-12-8-1500/2, DR-6 series, DR-4-4-15, RF-16