This Baldwin Class 10 Trench 2-6-2 "Prairie" tank engines were a series of steam locomotives built in the United States between 1917-1919 to be used during WWI. Operating on quickly created narrow gauge railroads along battle lines, they played a crucial role in the war transporting supplies to entrenched troops and carrying injured soldiers to safety away from the Western Front.
History[]
Due to a high demand for locomotives from British and European manufacturers during the first world war, the Allies turned to the Baldwin Locomotive Works to design and build a new type of trench engine to be used by the military. Baldwin designed the Class 10 which had a wheel arrangement of 2-6-2T and constructed a grand total of 195 of them, numbers 5001–5195, for the war effort in 1917.
190 members of the Class 10 were sent to Europe. Two were left behind for testing and training while three were lost at sea while in transit. An additional order for 376 more 2-6-2Ts was placed by the U.S. Army but Baldwin was unable to take on the contract. Instead the contract for the construction of these new locomotives was divided up between the Davenport Locomotive Works and Vulcan Iron Works to be based on Baldwin’s examples and specifications.
About eighty were produced by Davenport, numbers 5196-5275, and thirty were produced by Vulcan, numbers 5401-5430. However none of them were sent overseas and the contract for the remaining 266 Class 10's still in production was canceled. On November 11, 1918, the Armistice was signed thus leading to the end of the war.
When the war had ended, none of the Baldwin locomotives returned to the United States and were instead turned over to France and England where they ran on several short line railways or were adapted for agricultural use. The Vulcan and Davenport engines that remained stateside were either sent to work at various supply depots and army camps or were sold off as military surplus. Most of Class 10's were believed to have been scrapped by the 1940s.
Today only a small number of these locomotives have managed to make it into preservation. At least one of the Baldwin locomotives is known to have survived and is currently situated at the Tacot des Lacs Railway in Grez-sur-Loing, France. Three of the Davenport locomotives survive today with only one them in operational condition. It is unknown if any of the examples produced by Vulcan still exist.
Stock list[]
***W.I.P***
Photograph | Locomotive | Serial No. | Build date | Manufacturer | Operator(s) | Status |
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USA No. 5001 | 46256 | September 1917 | Baldwin Locomotive Works | - | Unknown |
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USA No. 5029 | - | 1917 | Baldwin Locomotive Works | - | Unknown |
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USA No. 5045 | - | 1917 | Baldwin Locomotive Works | France | Unknown |
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USA No. 5091 | 46759 | 1917 | Baldwin Locomotive Works | France | Unknown |
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USA No. 5104 | 46828 | 1917 | Baldwin Locomotive Works | France | Under ownership of the Tacot des Lacs Railway in Grez-sur-Loing, France. |
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USA No. 5203 | - | 1917 | Davenport Locomotive Works | - | Unknown |
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No. 1902 | 1682 | 1918 | Davenport Locomotive Works | - | On static display at the National Infantry Museum in Fort Moore, Georgia. |
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USA No. 5240 | 1695 | 1918 | Davenport Locomotive Works | - | Operational on the Norgrove Gardens Railway in California. |
References[]
- https://railpage.com.au/news/s/bachmann-spectrum-on30-262t-class-10-trench-engine
- https://ngslgazette.com/class-10-trench-engine-in-on30-by-bachmann-trains/
- https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=114905