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[Illustration: BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKS.

[Bird's-Eye View.]]




  BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKS.


  ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE
  OF
  LOCOMOTIVES.

  M. BAIRD & Co.,

  PHILADELPHIA.

  MATTHEW BAIRD,
  GEORGE BURNHAM,
  CHARLES T. PARRY,
  EDWARD H. WILLIAMS,
  WILLIAM P. HENSZEY,
  EDWARD LONGSTRETH.

  PRESS OF
  J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.,
  PHILADELPHIA.




SKETCH OF THE BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKS.


THE BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKS dates its origin from the inception of
steam railroads in America. Called into existence by the early
requirements of the railroad interests of the country, it has grown
with their growth and kept pace with their progress. It has reflected
in its career the successive stages of American railroad practice, and
has itself contributed largely to the development of the locomotive as
it exists to-day. A history of the Baldwin Locomotive Works,
therefore, is, in a great measure, a record of the progress of
locomotive engineering in this country, and as such cannot fail to be
of interest to all who are concerned in this important element of our
material progress.

MATTHIAS W. BALDWIN, the founder of the establishment, learned the
trade of a jeweler, and entered the service of Fletcher & Gardiner,
Jewelers and Silversmiths, Philadelphia, in 1817. Two years later he
opened a small shop, in the same line of business, on his own account.
The demand for articles of this character falling off, however, he
formed a partnership, in 1825, with David Mason, a machinist, in the
manufacture of bookbinders' tools and cylinders for calico-printing.
Their shop was in a small alley which runs north from Walnut Street,
above Fourth. They afterwards removed to Minor Street, below Sixth.
The business was so successful that steam-power became necessary in
carrying on their manufactures, and an engine was bought for the
purpose. This proving unsatisfactory, Mr. Baldwin decided to design
and construct one which should be specially adapted to the
requirements of his shop. One of these requirements was that it should
occupy the least possible space, and this was met by the construction
of an upright engine on a novel and ingenious plan. On a bed-plate
about five feet square an upright cylinder was placed; the piston-rod
connected to a cross-bar having two legs, turned downward, and sliding
in grooves on the sides of the cylinder, which thus formed the guides.
To the sides of these legs, at their lower ends, was connected by
pivots an inverted U-shaped frame, prolonged at the arch into a single
rod, which took hold of the crank of a fly-wheel carried by upright
standards on the bed-plate. It will be seen that the length of the
ordinary separate guide-bars was thus saved, and the whole engine was
brought within the smallest possible compass. The design of the
machine was not only unique, but its workmanship was so excellent, and
its efficiency so great, as readily to procure for Mr. Baldwin orders
for additional stationary engines. His attention was thus turned to
steam engineering, and the way was prepared for his grappling with the
problem of the locomotive when the time should arrive.

This original stationary engine, constructed prior to 1830, has been
in almost constant service since its completion, and at this day is
still in use, furnishing all the power required to drive the machinery
in the erecting-shop of the present works. The visitor who beholds it
quietly performing its regular duty in a corner of the shop, may
justly regard it with considerable interest, as in all probability the
indirect foundation of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, and permitted
still to contribute to the operation of the mammoth industry which it
was instrumental in building up.

The manufacture of stationary steam-engines thus took a prominent
place in the establishment, and Mr. Mason shortly afterward withdrew
from the business.

In 1829-30 the use of steam as a motive power on railroads had begun
to engage the attention of American engineers. A few locomotives had
been imported from England, and one (which, however, was not
successful) had been constructed at the West Point Foundry, in New
York City. To gratify the public interest in the new motor, Mr.
Franklin Peale, then proprietor of the Philadelphia Museum, applied to
Mr. Baldwin to construct a miniature locomotive for exhibition in his
establishment. With the aid only of the imperfect published
descriptions and sketches of the locomotives which had taken part in
the Rainhill competition in