Baldwin #60000 in the Franklin Institute Science Museum.
The Baldwin No. 60000 is an experimental 4-10-2 steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Eddystone, Pennsylvania in 1926, during the height of the railroading industry.
It was designed to be the best locomotive that Baldwin ever made No. 60000 was very innovative, carrying unusual technology, including a water-tube firebox.
This was intended to improve efficiency but the tubes were prone to burst inside the firebox. It is also a compound, expanding the steam once in the inside cylinder and then again in the two outside cylinders. Although compounding increases efficiency, it was an extra complication that the US railroads had mostly rejected by the middle twenties.
Today, this big experimental locomotive is on display at the Franklin Institute Science Museum. She moves back and forth on a 15 foot long (4.6 meters) section of track powered by hydraulics.
Trivia[]
- It was nicknamed "Baldwin Boomer".
- It received its number for being the 60,000th locomotive built by Baldwin.
- After a series brief test runs following construction, the 60000 was sent to the Pennsylvania Railroad's Altoona Test Plant in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
- The Baldwin 60000 arrived at The Franklin Institute on September 22, 1933. It took five days to move the locomotive five blocks from 24th and Vine Street to the Museum.
- The engine is in the game "TrainStation 2".
