Ogden Daily Standard | 1907-08-16 | Page 4 | Locomotive Building Record

locomotive BUILDING RECORD pueblo chieftain not many days ago the baldwin locomotive works celebrated the completion of its thirty thousandth railway mogul a banner being flung to the breeze above the works bearing the inscription the tact that this one company during its career has turned out steam locomotives gives some idea of the importance of this industry in the united states the remarkable strides made during the past quarter of a century are emphasized by the fact that up to 1871 the baldwin company had only manufactured 2000 locomotives during twenty years of existence since that date it has turned out locomotives and the ones made in recent years are much larger and more intricate than those used in the early years of railroading in the united states the first locomotive constructed ted in this country weighed three and one half tons and was considered a giant tor the purpose for which it was used at the present time it la customary to contract locomotives weighing a hundred and twenty and one hundred and forty tons capable of pulling eighty or one loaded cars in 1871 the baldwin company was employing 1900 men to turn out one loco mothe a day so marked has been the increase in the demand during the recent years that the company today has skilled mechanics in its employ and the plant has a potential capacity 0 one locomotive for every working hour of the day not only this buethe locomotives af pf today are much more intricate pieces 0 machinery than were the of twenty years ago and can bo much more easily handled by the engineer the modern locomotive Is a symmetrical machine with lines of beauty unknown in the construction of engines two or three decades ago but just the american steam locomotive is reaching Us highest state of perfection it appears that another mechanical ch device is about to supersede supercede super cede it the electric motor Is winning out in every test of speed and endurance and engineers predict that within the next quarter of a century the elegant and costly steam locomotives of the present day will be relegated to the scrap heap their work being done in the main by iho improved electric motor