Diesel Locomotives - USA: Books - History and Types (2/2)

Baldwin Diesel-Electric Switching Locomotives Operator's Manual: 750-1000 HP Switchers & Road Switchers

For almost a century, The Baldwin Locomotive Works was the world's premiere builder of steam locomotives. The years after WWII saw the company founder, as wartime production restrictions and poor planning delayed the company's entry into the diesel market.
Baldwin eventually did produce a number of diesel locomotives, including transfer and cab units and the four-axle 750 and 1,000 hp switchers and road switchers profiled in this booklet.
By 1956, the company could no longer compete with its rivals, and it stopped producing locomotives altogether. Its dissolution was a sad end for a once-mighty company, and symbolized the end of the steam era.

Originally published by Baldwin in 1949, this historic operator's manual was standard issue for the engineers operating four-axle 750 and 1,000 hp switchers and road switchers. Within its pages you 'll find information about the engine's fuel oil, air, and electrical systems as well as basic operating information and troubleshooting procedures.

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The Diesel That Did It - General Motors' FT Locomotive

As war loomed in 1939, American railroads were on the precipice of railroad transformation. In an obscure factory in La Grange, Illinois, a group of gifted engineers and designers were planning a revolution that would shake railroading to its foundations and eventually put the steam locomotive out of business. Their creation, the FT, was a diesel-electric, semi-streamlined freight engine.
The FT would establish a new standard for reliability, flexibility, and cost, but its arrival unsettled many railroad employees and gave fresh ammunition to their labor unions, who believed that it threatened a century-old culture.

Wallace W. Abbey's "The Diesel That Did It" is the story of a revolution. He explores how EMC (and its successor Electro-Motive Division of General Motors) conceived the FT, and how it ultimately emerged as the dominant locomotive power plant for 20 years.
However, for Abbey, the history of the Santa Fe Railway and the FT go hand in hand. "The Diesel That Did It" also offers a penetrating look at how the great American railroad, at the height of its Super Chief glamor, threw its conservative mechanical traditions aside to bet big on the diesel.

Showcasing more than 140 exquisite photographs by Abbey and other noted photographers, this book is a captivating story not to be missed by railroaders and railfans.

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