Engines Of North America: The Baldwin Centipede

[@roberthuron9160]

When I was in high school,(Military school),on the middle division of the PRR,near Harrisburg,I saw a Centipede hauling an empty stock train of CN,stockcars,out of Enola,bound for Pittsburgh! No camera,[ I was 15,at the time],and it was an awesome sight! Never forgot,that rattling engine,and it dwarfed all around it! Baldwin built some really great engines,and I also saw the 4-10-2, that inhabits the Franklin Institute in Philly on the Senior Class trip! Big time,big engine!! Thank you for an interesting video and commentary!😇😇😇😇🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚋🚋🚋🚋🚋🚂🚋🚂🚋🚂

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

Cool story and thanks for your service if you went to the armed forces

[@660Oliver]

The original experimental unit was designed to have 8 750HP 408 series engines. Each one was self contained with integral cooling system and main generator. The power pac ( my term) could be lifted out and replaced quickly in case of a problem( Way ahead of it's time). Due to restrictions, only 4 were installed. It was tested on the B&O between Philly and Elsmere Jct, De. The post-war version used 2 1500HP 608SC prime movers in place of the 408's. Intended as single units, PRR ordered theirs as Semi-permanently coupled pairs. PRR derated them to 2500HP each ( 5000HP per pair) after they moved them to freight then finally helper service. Pennsy did experience traction motors overheating problems in helper service out of Altoona on the Horseshoe Curve. In the early 1950's, NdeM sent theirs back to Eddystone, where they were upgraded with 608A prime movers, but keeping their 1500HP rating.

[@davidchambers7508]

The wheel arrangement of this loco reminds me of the Western Australian Government Railway X class locomotive built by Metropolitan Vickers of England. I am fascinated to learn of this loco even if none were preserved. Thank you for your research for this film.

[@Petemonster62]

Classic Trains magazine had an article some time ago about the Baldwin centipedes. The article said that the swinging of the eight-wheel trucks didn't allow the motor blowers to always cool the first & fourth axle traction motors.

[@SuperFoxyRailwayProduction6702]

In mexico we got this class of diesel, but sadly they all of them was scrap, Greetings from México

[@adamzaidi1748]

Hey man you actually did the video I was requesting on the centipede! That's awesome! Thank you for that and thank you for listening to viewers request. Another fantastic video. You're doing a great job! Keep it up!

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

: D

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

If you have any questions I have a q’n’a video in the works that I’ll be posting in January

[@johnsmart964]

Thank you very much for this very interesting and informative video presentation which is very much appreciated by the people. We are absolutely delighted with the work that you have done in the researching of these fine locomotives. It really is a great pity that none of these most interesting of locomotives were preserved, your video, however, does help to preserve their memory.

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

Thanks! Is their an engine you’d like to see? Lemme know via a comment.

[@Stevelikestrains]

A Baldwin Centipede would have been a great addition to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, if only the Pennsylvania Railroad would have had the foresight to preserve one of these as well as a few others and that also goes for railroads such as the Chesapeake & Ohio and the Norfolk and Western. I would travel far and wide to see a Chesapeake & Ohio M-1 Steam Turbine and a Norfolk and Western Jawn Henry. They were mammoth’s of the railroads and they should have been preserved. In my opinion, the railroads of yesteryear that put today’s railroads on the map, were too quick to take the cutting torches to locomotives that were somewhat of a masterpiece.

[@medwaymodelrailway7129]

Michael what a wonderful Christmas upload you done.Thanks for sharing.

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

I was gonna post a video on the 2-8-4 Berkshire for a Christmas special, but im gonna be on a vacation till early January. Maybe next year

[@medwaymodelrailway7129]

@@ironhorsehistorian9871 Thanks very much for replying to my comment.Have a Great Christmas see you in the New year. Take Care & Stay Safe.

[@jeffreyhunt1727]

Excellent video, thanks for posting this!

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

:D

[@garysprandel1817]

Remember reading about the centipedes. Apparently with all the issues the Pennsy had with them they finally having someone think high horse power unit,plenty of tractive effort, keep em close to a yard for the inevitable maintenance issues hey let's use them as hump locomotives. Great idea except they failed to note the obvious issues of a long rigid frame and a fairly sharp leveling at the top of the hump. Seems as the cut topped the hump the lead drive wheels wouldn't follow the rails like a 2 or 3 axel truck but would continue upwards, leaving the rails until the locomotive reached the tipping point and the cone back down. All great if the wheels landed back on the rails but most of the time they didn't and after several rerailings the centipedes failed at their last chance at being useful to the Pennsylvania and were taken out of service.

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

Sounds like the same kind of thinking that matched up the FF1 with flimsy late 1800s-vintage freight wagons for its tests, with predictable disastrous results.

[@AndrewTheRocketCityRailfan4014]

Baldwin manufactured these these like steam locomotives. They built them one at a one instead of using common assembly lines. The result was that each centipede was slightly different from the next one, and thus the wiring was in slightly different spots between each unit, which made even routine maintenance complicated. Essentially, these things were obsolete before they were even finished. This was the root of the problems with these things, thus why they were considered unsuccessful, and thus why all were scrapped.

[@fredzag2452]

I think I read that the centipede went 178 miles per hour in an old Trains magazine. I remember one passing me as a kid. It was loud like I liked them .

[@manolorodriguez2956]

Great video. Greetings from Madrid!!

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

Greetings from Texas

[@ciaranburke3243]

Very interesting loco, rapido needs to make a model of that 👍

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

lol coincidence

[@IsaacAmadeo]

BLI is currently making a model of it

[@shanestrains7179]

A fitting video since bli just announced a new run of centipedes

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

I didn’t plan that, crazy coincidence

[@shanestrains7179]

@@ironhorsehistorian9871 yea yea. Bli called. They said the checks in the mail. Lmao

[@TroublesomeSlateTruck]

Good Work With The Video.

[@alfonsolanzagorta5138]

They were retired from service in México in 1971, precisely on the day that I was born (August 29th) They ended up their days as helpers on the grade of Carneros, near Saltillo in Coahuila State.

[@l.a.2646]

I've read that the PRR had a lot of trouble with their sets. There was an article ( classic trains ?) Where the helper set out of Altoona PA ( Horseshoe curve) had to have a mechanic onboard because of the miriad of issues during this time. They weren't built for pushing, almost all of the films where these locos were used all had steam locos assistance. In theory they should have been the bees knees.

[@kiwitrainguy]

I've never seen that photo at 0:39 before. Did that loco really exist or was it a mash-up for Baldwin to show prospective buyers how an electric centipede would look?

[@PCrailfan3790]

Do the middle wheels slide side to side because the engine will lean over the track a bit

[@auxityne]

Railroads: Rails are worn out, passengers don't like the ride, what do we do? Baldwin: A X L E S

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

Ha ha lol

[@klardfarkus3891]

Wasnt Baldwin the promoter of diesel hydraulic units? An analysis of why that was abandoned has always interested me

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

I’m not aware of any North American builders of diesel hydraulics but Kraus Mafi did build one. Their a German company. Theirs a really good video by high iron talking about diesel hydraulics.

[@russellgxy2905]

Baldwin did build some diesel hydraulics, the RP-210 for light streamlined Talgo trains. They were the last locomotives ordered from Baldwin so you can guess how they went

[@jims6323]

The origional spec. was for 8 750HP V-8 diesel engines. Just imagine the maint. head-aches that would cause!

[@fightingfalcon1986]

Those Baldwin Centipedes reminds me a model that served in the Chilean State Railways, sold to Chile in 1948 where they were known as the Serpiente de Oro (Golden Snake in Spanish) due that were very agile machines while negotiating slopes uphill and to the enormous amount spent by the Chilean Fisco in order to get those locos. They look quite similar to the GE Little Joes but are smaller. Those engines were sold with a traction power of 5000 hp, and even today are still considered the most powerful locomotive to ever have served in Ferrocarriles del Estado de Chile (Spanish name for the Chilean State Railways, current Empresa de Ferrocarriles del Estado EFE - Chilean State Railways Company in English)

[@joshuamuir7577]

can you add horn audio at the horn segments?

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

I would gladly do so if their was a way to add other videos into iMovie. I would but A) don’t know how B)I could get flagged for copyright. Still I’ll keep that under consideration for next year.

[@mysticrailroad]

interesting loco

[@gregoryhainsworth2663]

Where were the fuel tanks located on these units?

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

That’s an excellent question

[@timosha21]

I'm a train and I approve this video! :D

[@jamesstuart3346]

2:11 Union Pacific never ran Centipides. The model is not even a centipede as it has a 4-D-D-4 wheel arrangement

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

True but they did order a model of the centipede

[@ferdinandfrancis9673]

With so many truck sets, how many pins does the loco uses to sit on those trucks .

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

I’m afraid I’m the wrong person to ask that question. It’s a bit beyond my expertise.

[@ferdinandfrancis9673]

@@ironhorsehistorian9871 Ok, maybe someone will come on here with the answer. Thanks.

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

@@ferdinandfrancis9673 :)

[@jaysmith1408]

Four

[@blurryrobot3198]

In fact there are only two trucks. The four wheel unpowered trucks at each end. All motored axles are carried in the articulated frames, which are hinged together in the middle.

[@douglasskaalrud6865]

I wish a centipede had been preserved but I can understand how the railroads that had them couldn’t get rid of them fast enough.

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

I think had the PRR used them correctly, they’d have lasted far longer. Why they used them the way they did, I don’t know.

[@douglasskaalrud6865]

@@ironhorsehistorian9871 The May 1982 issue of Trains magazine features great articles about development of the centipede and Individual articles of the Seaboard Air Line, the Pennsylvania and Nationales de Mexico. Really interesting reading and lots of pictures.

[@blurryrobot3198]

Remember, folks. From the 40s perspective, the Centipede is NOT the freak. If anything, the FT, a string of four streetcars, must have seemed freakish for a high speed locomotive. In fact a heavy loco on two swiveling trucks, with axle hung traction motors, is fraught with potential tracking and stability pitfalls at high speed. Holding the powered axles in the main frame and giving them a predictable alignment with the rails, via a pair of well-understood four wheel trucks, was a perfectly logical thing to do. Just expensive. Nor are these the rigid monstrosities they might seem to be. They aren't so unlike a Little Joe or W1 or GG1, and the GG1 tracked beautifully. In other words, the Centipede is meant to be a 100mph diesel. Or, on the Seaboard, a modestly high speed diesel for use on inferior track.

[@Hellodarknessmyolefriend]

Surprised none of them were preserved

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

I know right!? It’d be a hell of a museum piece.

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

More information: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_DR-12-8-1500/2 Apparently Baldwin never figured out how to mass produce or truly standardize Centipedes, ensuring that they would suffer maintenance problems, as well as presumably increasing production costs.

[@joelang6126]

250,000 lbs of tractive effort!

[@Croco140]

No, 102 000 lbs

[@AndrewTheRocketCityRailfan4014]

ALCO and Union Pacific when another manufacturer makes a diesel or electric locomotive with the same wheel arrangement as the Big Boys: “YOU DARE OPPOSE US_[manfucturer]___?

[@billmorris2613]

Good evening to all from SE Louisiana 20 Dec 21.

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

Halo

[@davegeisler7802]

Too bad Baldwin didnt make it. Their forte was really Steam Locomotives , they were the King 👑

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

I think Lima fell into a similar situation

[@MarkHenstridge]

Those wacky yanks made some pretty ugly locos, it's a pity that none were preserved

[@ericemmons3040]

I'm not sure I would call these particular locomotives ugly; they were certainly unusual and somewhat ungainly because of their length and number of axles, but they did have a certain character that today's diesel engines lack. . .

[@BnuuyBoi2005]

Noice 👍