page_title: Baldwin Locomotive Works
section_title: 1860–1899
hierarchical_section_title: Baldwin Locomotive Works / History: 19th century / 1860–1899
caption_attribution_description: English: Baldwin Locomotive Works advertisement published in the "The Railway Review", Vol. XXII, No. 35 Chicago, September 2, 1882
context_page_description: The Baldwin Locomotive Works was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1956. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades the world's largest producer of steam locomotives, but struggled to compete as demand switched to diesel locomotives. Baldwin produced the last of its 70,000-plus locomotives in 1956 and went out of business in 1972.
  The company has no relation to the E.M. Baldwin and Sons locomotive builder of New South Wales, Australia.
context_section_description: The Civil War at first appeared disastrous for Baldwin. According to John K. Brown in The Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831-1915: A Study in American Industrial Practice, at the start of the conflict Baldwin had a great dependence on Southern railways as its primary market. In 1860, nearly 80 percent of Baldwin's output went to carriers in states that would soon secede from the Union. As a result, Baldwin's production in 1861 fell more than 50 percent compared to the previous year. However, the loss in Southern sales was counterbalanced by purchases by the U.S. Military Railroads and the Pennsylvania Railroad, which saw its traffic soar, as Baldwin produced more than 100 engines for carriers during the 1861–1865 war.
  By the time Matthias Baldwin died in 1866, his company was vying with Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works for the top spot among locomotive producers. By 1870 Baldwin had taken the lead and a decade later, it was producing 2½ times as many engines as its nearest competitor, according to the U.S. Manufacturing Census.
  In 1897 the Baldwin Locomotive Works was presented as one of the examples of successful shop management in a series of articles by Horace Lucian Arnold. The article specifically described the Piece Rate System used in the shop management.
  Burton (1899) commented, that "in the Baldwin Locomotive Works... piecework rates are seldom altered... Some rates have remained unchanged for the past twenty years, and a workman is there more highly esteemed when he can, by his own exertions and ability, increase his weekly earnings. He has an absolute incentive to increase his output as much as he possibly can, because he knows that he will not, by increasing his own income, lead to cutting piece-work rates, and so be forced to make still further exertions in order to maintain the same weekly wage."
caption: 1882 advertisement for the Baldwin Locomotive Works
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