# Baldwin VO-1000

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 diesel engine rated at 1,000 horsepower (746 kW), and rode on a pair of two-axle trucks in a B-B wheel arrangement. These were either the AAR Type-A switcher trucks, or the Batz truck originally developed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway as a leading truck for steam locomotives. 548 examples of this model were built for American railroads, including examples for the Army and Navy.
Between June and August 1945 Baldwin supplied 30 Co-Co road locomotives with 8-cylinder VO engines for export to the Soviet Union 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, a local freight carrier based in Schellville, California.

## Conversions

In the early 1960s the Reading Company sent 14 of their VO-1000s to General Motors Electro-Motive Division 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 repowered its VO1000s with turbocharged 606SC Baldwin engines taken from its EMD-repowered fleet of Baldwin DT-6-6-2000 locomotives. The work was performed at EJ&E's Joliet, Illinois 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 switchers. The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad had eight of their VO1000s repowered with EMD 567 series engines, which produced 1,200 hp (890 kW). 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 15-foot (4.6 m)-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 Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (soon after its successful CF7 capital rebuilding program) produced a unique switcher locomotive, known to railfans as the "Beep", at its Cleburne, Texas 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

| Railroad | Quantity | Road numbers | Notes |
| Baldwin Locomotive Works (demonstrators) | 2 | 307, 332 | to Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway 30–31 |
| Baldwin Locomotive Works (demonstrators) | 1 | 333 | to Central of Georgia Railway 22 |
| Baldwin Locomotive Works (demonstrators) | 1 | 334 | to Minneapolis and St. Louis D-340 |
| American Steel and Wire Company | 1 | 12 | |
| Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway | 59 | 2201–2259 | |
| Atlantic Coast Line Railroad | 9 | 606–609, 616, 617, 619, 621, 623 | Renumbered 10–18 |
| Baltimore and Ohio Railroad | 25 | 413–437 | Renumbered 9200–9224 at random |
| Belt Railway of Chicago | 2 | 401–402 | |
| Canton Railroad | 2 | 30–31 | to Patapsco & Back Rivers 331–332 |
| Central of Georgia Railway | 2 | 26, 27 | |
| Central Railroad of New Jersey | 5 | 1062–1066 | |
| Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad | 30 | 9350–9379 | |
| Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (“Milwaukee Road”) | 12 | 1680–1691 | Renumbered 928–939 |
| Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad | 5 | 760–764 | |
| Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway (“Omaha Road”) | 3 | 87–89 | Re-engined by EMD in 1958 |
| Chicago and North Western Railway | 12 | 1024, 1037–1047 | |
| Colorado and Wyoming Railway | 3 | 1107–1109 | |
| Chicago Short Line Railway | 3 | 100–102 | |
| Defense Plant Corporation (Carbon County Railway) | 2 | 262-1, 262-2 | to Columbia-Geneva Steel Division, US Steel #36–37 |
| Detroit Terminal Railroad | 2 | 101–102 | |
| Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway | 10 | 475–484 | |
| Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad | 1 | 100 | |
| Great Northern Railway | 10 | 5332–5335, 139–144 | 5332–5335 Renumbered 132–138 |
| Iowa Ordnance Plant | 1 | 1-120 | to US War Department 7275 |
| Kennecott Copper Corporation (Bingham and Garfield Railway) | 2 | 801, 803 | |
| Kentucky and Indiana Terminal | 4 | 44–47 | |
| Lehigh Valley Railroad | 5 | 135–139 | |
| Litchfield and Madison Railway | 1 | 100 | to C&NW #86; rebuilt by EMD |
| Louisville and Nashville Railroad | 9 | 2202–2210 | |
| Macon, Dublin and Savannah Railroad | 1 | 1000 | to SAL 1492; to SCL 84 |
| Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway | 1 | D-145 | Renumbered 103 |
| Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad | 1 | 310 | |
| Missouri Pacific Railroad | 6 | 9103, 9117–9119, 9198, 9199 | |
| Missouri Pacific Railroad (International-Great Northern Railroad) | 3 | 9150–9152 | |
| Missouri Pacific Railroad (St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway) | 5 | 9153–9155, 9160, 9161 | |
| Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway | 6 | 15, 30–34 | |
| New York Central Railroad | 8 | 8600–8607 | renumbered 9300–9307 |
| Northern Pacific Railway | 28 | 108–109, 111–112, 119–124, 153–154, 159–174 | Renumbered 400–427 (not in order) |
| Oliver Iron Mining Company | 15 | 907–915, 918, 919, 922 | |
| Patapsco and Back Rivers Railroad | 4 | 70–73 | Renumbered 326–329 |
| Pennsylvania Railroad | 8 | 5913–5920 | |
| Phelps Dodge Corporation | 2 | 9, 10 | |
| Philadelphia, Bethlehem and New England Railroad | 2 | 251, 252 | to Patapsco & Back Rivers 328, 330 |
| Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway | 1 | 30 | to Patapsco & Back Rivers 355 |
| Reading Company | 24 | 55–59, 71–89 | |
| St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (“Frisco”) | 38 | 200–237 | Repowered with EMD 567 prime mover |
| St. Louis Southwestern Railway (“Cotton Belt”) | 23 | 1000–1022 | 1007 to Texas South-Eastern |
| Seaboard Air Line Railroad | 7 | 1400–1402, 1413–1416 | to Seaboard Coast Line 28–30; 37–40 |
| Southern Pacific Company | 25 | 1320–1329, 1371–1385 | |
| Southern Railway | 1 | DS-2205 | later renumbered 2205, with no "DS" prefix |
| Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway | 5 | 30-34 | |
| Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company | 4 | 800–803 | |
| Tennessee Eastman Corporation | 1 | 4 | |
| Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis | 11 | 591–601 | |
| Union Pacific Railroad | 6 | 1055–1060 | |
| Union Railroad | 6 | 500–505 | 500,501,505 to Patapsco & Back Rivers Railway; 502 to Universal Iron & Steel; 505 to URR Tack & Maintenance 504; 503=? |
| United States Navy | 40 | varied by location | |
| United States Department of War | 26 | 7126–7130, 7137–7140, 7143, 7225–7227, 7453–7457, 7461–7464, V-1800, V-1801 | |
| Wabash Railroad | 4 | 300–303 | |
| Western Maryland Railway | 5 | 128–132 | |
| Western Pacific Railroad | 5 | 581–585 | |
| Western Railway of Alabama | 4 | 621–624 | |
| Total | 548 | | |

## Preserved examples

* B&O #412 is operational in Bridgeport, NJ. (ex-USN #19)
* BOMX #32 is preserved at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, MD. (ex-Canton Railroad Company #32, exx-Patapsco and Back Rivers Railroad #331)
* Colorado and Wyoming Railway #1107 is preserved at the Museum of the American Railroad in Dallas, TX.
* NC&StL #36 is preserved at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, TN. However this engine never served "The Dixie Line," this one served the United States Navy.
* NKP #99 is preserved at the Indiana Transportation Museum in Noblesville, IN. (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 (ex. Kennecott Copper) #801 is operational at Nevada Northern Railway in Ely, NV.
* OERM #8 is preserved at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, CA.
* WMRY #132 is preserved at the Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum in Hagerstown, MD.
* 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, Tennessee.
* SLSF #206 (later USAX #4648 and also repowered with an EMD 567C engine and equipped with an EMD SW1200 hood) is preserved at the Oklahoma Railway Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.