Baldwin DT-6-6-2000 at Illinois Railway Museum (MNS 21)

A transfer switcher was a type of railroad

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

specifically designed to perform "transfer" work in which freight cars are transported between two freight yards in a large terminal area.

Design

As transfer work required high pulling power but not much speed, the general design of a transfer locomotive consisted of two engines with high-horsepower on an elongated locomotive frame, gearing designed for low speeds, and several driving axles, but were generally built without dynamic braking or multiple unit capability. In addition to the "center cab" design, transfer locomotives were also built in the form of road switchers and drawbar-coupled

cow and calf In rail transport, a cow-calf (also cow and calf) locomotive is a set of switcher-type diesel locomotives. The set usually is a pair; some 3-unit sets (with two calves, also known as herds) were built, but this was rare. A cow is equipped with ...

switcher A switcher, shunter, yard pilot, switch engine, yard goat, or shifter is a small railroad locomotive used for manoeuvring railroad cars inside a rail yard in a process known as ''switching'' (US) or ''shunting'' (UK). Switchers are not inten ...

sets.

Center cab

The "center cab" configuration is probably the best remembered transfer locomotive design, as the majority of these locomotives were built for transfer work. The first of the "center cab" locomotives was simply designated the T, and was a one-of-a-kind locomotive, built as a collaboration by the Electro Motive Corporation, St. Louis Car Company and General Electric for the Illinois Central Railroad in 1936.

Production

Baldwin Locomotive Works 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 ...

and

Lima-Hamilton Lima Locomotive Works was an American firm that manufactured railroad locomotives from the 1870s through the 1950s. The company took the most distinctive part of its name from its main shop's location in Lima, Ohio. The shops were located between ...

(which would later merge to become Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton) produced the majority of these units, with the former producing 70

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 aspirat ...

/ BLH RT-624 locomotives, and the latter producing 22 Lima A-3177 locomotives between 1946 and 1954.

Preservation

Only one surviving example of these locomotives is known to exist. Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railroad DT-6-6-2000 #21 is preserved at the

Illinois Railway Museum The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM, reporting mark IRMX) is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, northwest of downtown Chicago. Overview Histo ...

in Union, Illinois.

References

* * Locomotives {{diesel-loco-stub