The Baldwin VO-1000 is a diesel-electric switcher locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works between January 1939 and December 1946. These units were powered by a naturally aspirated eight-

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

rated at , and rode on a pair of two-axle trucks in a B-B wheel arrangement. These were either the AAR Type-A switcher

trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

, or the Batz truck originally developed by the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison, Kansas, Atchison and Top ...

as a leading truck for steam locomotives. 548 examples of this model were built for American railroads, including examples for the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

and

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

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

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

as their Дб20 (Db20) class. There are at least eight intact examples of the VO-1000 that are known to survive today, most of which are owned by museums or historical societies. However, a VO-1000m is owned by the

Northwestern Pacific Railroad The Northwestern Pacific Railroad is a regional shortline railroad utilizing a stretch of the 271 mile mainline between Schellville and Windsor with freight and Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) commuter trains. Formerly, it was a reg ...

, a local freight carrier based in Schellville, California.

Conversions

USA 2012 0295 - Barstow - Western America Railroad Museum

In the early 1960s the Reading Company sent 14 of their VO-1000s to

General Motors Electro-Motive Division Progress Rail Locomotives, doing business as Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar through its su ...

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 The Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway was a Class I railroad, operating between Waukegan, Illinois and Gary, Indiana. The railroad served as a link between Class I railroads traveling to and from Chicago, although it operated almost entirely wit ...

repowered its VO1000s with turbocharged 606SC Baldwin engines taken from its EMD-repowered fleet of

Baldwin DT-6-6-2000 The Baldwin DT-6-6-2000 (Also referred to as the Baldwin DT6-6-2000) was a twin-engined diesel-electric transfer switcher, built by Baldwin Locomotive Works between 1946 and 1950. A single prototype using a pair of 8 cylinder nominally aspira ...

locomotives. The work was performed at EJ&E's

Joliet, Illinois Joliet ( ) is a city in Will and Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. At the 2020 census, the city was the third-largest in Illinois, with a population of 150,362. Hist ...

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 switcher A road switcher is a type of railroad locomotive designed to both haul railcars in mainline service and shunt them in railroad yards. Both type and term are North American in origin, although similar types have been used elsewhere. A road ...

s. The

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967 it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast L ...

had eight of their VO1000s repowered with

EMD 567 The EMD 567 is a line of large medium-speed diesel engines built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division. This engine, which succeeded Winton's 201A, was used in EMD's locomotives from 1938 until its replacement in 1966 by the EMD 645. It ...

series engines, which produced . 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 -long steel cabins. The St. Louis – San Francisco Railway repowered theirs with EMD 567C prime movers in the late 50's and early 60's. The conversion lead to extended use into the late 70's. Most units were retired in 1979, though some were sold off. In December 1970 the

(soon after its successful

CF7 The Santa Fe CF7 is an EMD F-unit railroad locomotive that has had its streamlined carbody removed and replaced with a custom-made, "general purpose" body in order to adapt the unit for switcher, switching duty. All of the conversions were perform ...

capital rebuilding program) produced a unique switcher locomotive, known to railfans as the "

Beep The Blocks Extensible Exchange Protocol (BEEP) is a framework for creating network application protocols. BEEP includes building blocks like framing, pipelining, multiplexing, reporting and authentication for connection and message-oriented pe ...

", at its

Cleburne, Texas Cleburne is a city in and the county seat of Johnson County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 29,337. The city is named in honor of Patrick Cleburne, a Confederate general. Lake Pat Cleburne, the reservoir that pro ...

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 economically prudent. The conversion proved too costly, and only the one unit was modified.

Original owners

Preserved examples

* B&O #412 is operational in Bridgeport, NJ. (ex-USN #19) * BOMX #32 is preserved at the

B&O Railroad Museum The B&O Railroad Museum is a museum and historic railway station exhibiting historic railroad equipment in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) company originally opened the museum on July 4, 1953, with the name of the Balt ...

Baltimore, MD Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

. (ex- Canton Railroad Company #32, exx-

Patapsco and Back Rivers Railroad The Patapsco and Back Rivers Railroad was a Class III switching and terminal railroad, operating in Baltimore County. Owned for the majority of its existence by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, the railroad primarily served Bethlehem Steel's Sp ...

#331) * Colorado and Wyoming Railway #1107 is preserved at the

Museum of the American Railroad The Museum of the American Railroad, formerly known as the Age of Steam Railroad Museum, is a railroad museum in Frisco, Texas. The museum has more than 70 pieces of steam, diesel, passenger, and freight railroad equipment; guests may walk through ...

Dallas, TX Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

. * NC&StL #36 is preserved at the

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is a railroad museum and heritage railroad in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum was founded as a chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in 1960 by Paul H. Merriman an ...

Chattanooga, TN Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

. However this engine never served "The Dixie Line", this one served the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

* NKP #99 is preserved at the

Indiana Transportation Museum The Indiana Transportation Museum ( initialized ITM, reporting mark ITMZ) is a railroad museum that was formerly located in the Forest Park neighborhood of Noblesville, Indiana, United States. It owns a variety of preserved railroad equipment ...

Noblesville, IN Noblesville is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Indiana, United States, a part of the north Indianapolis suburbs along the White River. The population was 51,969 at the 2010 census making it the state's 14th largest city/town ...

. (ex-USN #9) According to unconfirmed reports this locomotive was to be sold to the city of Kokomo, Indiana for static display but the deal was never finalized. * NNRM #801 is being restored in

Ely, NV Ely (, ) is the largest city and county seat of White Pine County, Nevada, United States. Ely was founded as a stagecoach station along the Pony Express and Central Overland Route. In 1906 copper was discovered. Ely's mining boom came later than ...

. * OERM #8 is preserved at the

Orange Empire Railway Museum The Southern California Railway Museum (SCRM, reporting mark OERX), formerly known as the Orange Empire Railway Museum, is a railroad museum in Perris, California, United States. It was founded in 1956 at Griffith Park in Los Angeles before movin ...

in Perris, CA. * WMRY #132 is preserved at the Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum in

Hagerstown, MD Hagerstown is a city in Washington County, Maryland, United States and the county seat of Washington County. The population of Hagerstown city proper at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census was 43,527, and the population of the Hagerstow ...

. * BLW #1200 is preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, PA. SLSF 200 (repowered with an EMD 567C engine and equipped with an EMD SW1200 hood) is preserved at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga.

References

* *

External links

{{Diesel Switchers B-B locomotives VO-1000 Diesel-electric locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives introduced in 1939 Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Shunting locomotives