Power For The Pennsylvania Railroad 1926 Postcards

From www.railphotoexpress.biz The Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia Pennsylvania is building 175 new Mountain Type, Class M-1 Steam Locomotives in 1926 for the Pennsylvania Railroad. These Locomotives were designed by the PRR Chief of Motive Power Mr.J.T.Wallis. The Pennsylvania Railroad plans to use the Locomotives for fast freight service. They have driving wheels 72 inches in diameter and the Locomotives maxium tractive force is 64,550 pounds. The Baldwin Locomotive Works was the largest and most successful locomotive building firm in the world. It was begun as a machine shop owned and operated by Matthias W. Baldwin in 1831. Baldwin turned out its first locomotive engine from its shop in Philadelphia Pennsylvania in 1832; within a few years the company was producing two a month and employed 240 men. By 1852, 500 engines had been produced; by 1861, 1,000; and by 1868, 2,000. At that point, the company employed between 1,600-1,700 men, and was one of the very largest machine works in the nation. In 1906 Baldwin began construction of a large auxiliary plant in the Philadelphia suburb of Eddystone. In 1928 the Philadelphia Broad Street plant was closed and all work transferred to the Eddystone Plant.