The BLH AS-616 was a C-C

diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conv ...

built by

Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...

between 1950 and 1954. Nineteen railroads bought 214 locomotives, and two railroads bought seven cabless

B unit B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It re ...

s. The AS-616 was valued for its extremely high tractive effort, far more than any comparable

ALCo The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

or EMD product. It was used in much the same manner as its four-axle counterpart, the

AS-16 The Raduga Kh-15 or RKV-15 (russian: Х-15; NATO: AS-16 "Kickback"; GRAU:) is a Russian hypersonic aero-ballistic air-to-ground missile carried by the Tupolev Tu-22M and other bombers. Originally developed as a standoff nuclear air-to-ground ...

, and its six-axle sister, the AS-416, though the six-traction motor design allowed better

tractive effort As used in mechanical engineering, the term tractive force can either refer to the total traction a vehicle exerts on a surface, or the amount of the total traction that is parallel to the direction of motion. In railway engineering, the term tr ...

at lower speeds.

Original owners

Design

The AS-616 was very similar to the previous model, the Baldwin DRS-6-6-1500, riding on the same basic frame and sharing the same body. The design was very simple, lacking the 1950s styling of the competing

EMD F3 The EMD F3 is a B-B freight- and passenger-hauling carbody diesel locomotive produced between July 1945 and February 1949 by General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La Grange, Illinois plant. A total of 1,11 ...

and

ALCO FA The ALCO FA was a family of B-B diesel locomotives designed to haul freight trains. The locomotives were built by a partnership of ALCO and General Electric in Schenectady, New York, between January 1946 and May 1959. Designed by General Electr ...

. The utilitarian design was valued for switching jobs, a position the AS-616 filled easily. The AS-616 would be the company's best selling road switcher of all time, and the builder's third greatest selling diesel electric model of all time.

Redesign

In 1954, BLH (believing the utilitarian design of their road switchers was the cause of their overall failure on the market) redesigned their entire roster of locomotives, with all gaining new abilities. The most notable effect of the redesign was the raising of the roof on all their road switchers, causing the roof to take the shape of a

triangular prism In geometry, a triangular prism is a three-sided prism; it is a polyhedron made of a triangular base, a translated copy, and 3 faces joining corresponding sides. A right triangular prism has rectangular sides, otherwise it is ''oblique''. A unif ...

. Only a few units were sold with this design, as failing sales had dropped to their lowest at the time. BLH began offering

dynamic braking Dynamic braking is the use of an electric traction motor as a generator when slowing a vehicle such as an electric or diesel-electric locomotive. It is termed " rheostatic" if the generated electrical power is dissipated as heat in brake grid r ...

on all road switchers, though the AS-616 was already offered with optional dynamic brakes.

Usage

Despite being marketed as a road switcher (like the

EMD SD9 An SD9 is a 6-axle diesel locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1954 and June 1959. An EMD 567C 16-cylinder engine generated . Externally similar to its predecessor, the SD7, the SD9 was built with the improv ...

and

ALCO RSD-4 The ALCO RSD-4 was a six axle diesel-electric locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company between 1951 and 1952. It was a derivative of the four-axle ALCO RS-3, with two additional powered axles which allowed better tractive effort at ...

of the same time period), the AS-616 saw most use as a heavy switcher. The impressive tractive effort and GSC rigid bolster trimount trucks appealed to roads with heavy hump yards (such as Southern Pacific). Ultimately, while many saw road service, the AS-616 was a switcher that was far ahead of its time. BLH offered more options on the AS-616 in comparison to the DRS-6-6-1500, with some units gaining

boilers A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...

, and others gaining dynamic braking. BLH also offered

Multiple-unit train control Multiple-unit train control, sometimes abbreviated to multiple-unit or MU, is a method of simultaneously controlling all the traction equipment in a train from a single location—whether it is a multiple unit comprising a number of self-powered ...

on the AS-616, though many roads bought the unit purely for switching, opting out of MU. Some units that lacked MU were given MU by the parent company (or by an associate) depending on the road's preference. By the 1970s almost all AS-616s had been scrapped or sold. A select few railroads-

Trona Railway The Trona Railway is a short-line railroad owned by Searles Valley Minerals. The TRC interchanges with the Lone Pine Subdivision of the Union Pacific Railroad (former Southern Pacific Transportation Company) at Searles, California. History The ...

being a major operator- kept their diesels running far past their builder's lifetime.

Preservation

Nine AS-616 diesels are preserved. *

Oregon and Northwestern Railroad The Oregon and Northwestern Railroad (O&NW) is a defunct railroad in eastern Oregon in the United States. It ran from Hines north to Seneca, which is on the edge of the Malheur National Forest, over a total of 19 trestles. Beginnings through 19 ...

#1, former Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton demonstrator #1601, at

Pacific Southwest Railway Museum The Pacific Southwest Railway Museum is a railroad museum located in Campo, California, on the San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway line. The museum also owns and manages a railroad depot located in La Mesa, California. Facilities Campo Sinc ...

#52, at

SMS Rail Lines SMS Rail Lines is a shortline railroad based at Pureland Industrial Park in Bridgeport, New Jersey. The company handles all freight car delivery to businesses located within the industrial park. It also operates lines in Morrisville, Pennsylvan ...

as part of a former Trona Railway collection *

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

#5250, in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

* Southern Pacific #5253, at

Western Pacific Railroad Museum The Western Pacific Railroad Museum (WPRM) in Portola, California, known as the Portola Railroad Museum until January 1, 2006, is a heritage railroad and archives that preserves and operates historic American railroad equipment and preserves docu ...

as Oregon & Northwestern #4 * Southern Pacific #5274, at Western Pacific Railroad Museum as Oregon & Northwestern #3 * Southern Pacific #5249, at SMS Rail Lines as part of a former Trona Railway collection * Kaiser Steel #1012A, reportedly still with

Kaiser Bauxite Noranda Inc. was a mining and metallurgy company originally from Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, Canada. It was listed on the TSX under the symbol NRD.LV. After eventually acquiring a large interest in rival mining company Falconbridge, it merged with tha ...

of Jamaica * Kaiser Steel #1012B, at SMS Rail Lines, operational *

Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil The Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil was one of the principal railways of Brazil, uniting the states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais. Origins On 9 February 1855, The imperial government of Brazil signed a contract with Edward Pr ...

#3380 Baldwin Diesel Zone - Roster of Existing Baldwin Diesels

References

{{Baldwin diesels AS-616 C-C locomotives Diesel-electric locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives introduced in 1950 Locomotives with cabless variants Standard gauge locomotives of the United States 5 ft 3 in gauge locomotives Metre gauge diesel locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of Mexico Diesel-electric locomotives of Mexico