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The Baldwin DS-4-4-750

(Please note that the latter two models featured here do not depict the Baldwin DS-4-4-750.)

The Baldwin DS-4-4-750 was a lightly powered switcher locomotive built during just a few year stretch in the late 1940s and early 1950s. More powerful than its counterpart the DS-4-4-660 but less powerful than the DS-4-4-1000 the "specialized" model saw only lukewarm interest and was the company's worst selling design. The Baldwin Locomotive Works had a pessimistic view towards diesel locomotives as an inferior motive power type in comparison to steam, and as such mostly ignored it for main line service. This, along with the fact that the company believed customizing orders to fit railroads' specific needs was more important than offering standard designs would ultimately cost it as a manufacturer and it was out of business by the 1950s. Today, at least two DS-4-4-750s are known to be preserved, Texas Mexican #510 at the Gulf Coast Railroad Museum and Warner Sand & Gravel #14 owned by the Reading Company Technical & Historical Society.

The Baldwin DS-4-4-750 began production in the summer of 1949 using the builder's 606NA model prime mover. Producing 750 horsepower, the DS-4-4-750 was a mid-grade switcher as Baldwin also produced a 660 horsepower and 1,000 horsepower model. Using a B-B truck arrangement (i.e., two axles per truck) the model found a diversity of buyers from Class I railroads like the Pennsylvania, Erie, and Santa Fe to industrial companies like American Cynamid, Youngstown Sheet & Tube, and American Steel & Wire. As with the American Locomotive Company (Alco), Baldwin at the time still held a loyal following by some railroads that had worked with it for years during the reign of steam. Because of this it probably explains why roads like the Pennsylvania (an avid buyer of Baldwin products) and Erie purchased the DS-4-4-750. The PRR, for instance, purchased examples of nearly every Baldwin diesel it produced.

Ultimately, however, few DS-4-4-750s actually purchased as only 53 were ever built through February, 1951 (three of which being the demonstrators #301, #750, and #751 that were eventually sold to Weyerhaeuser Timber). The locomotive was essentially a DS-4-4660/VO660 with slightly more horsepower. For instance, along with the above mentioned characteristics it was also 46 feet in length, offered the same tractive effort (49,625 pounds starting/34,000 pounds continuous), and featured the same general exterior carbody features (end cab and trailing long hood). Additionally, the model did not offer either dynamic braking or turbocharging (which to some extent could have also been a negative sales point as Alco, for instance, did offer both features in most of its switchers).

After less than two years in production, Baldwin removed the DS-4-4-750 from its catalog, replacing it with the S-8 (the offered just slightly more horsepower) and the more powerful S-12. The DS-4-4-750 also ended the company's use of its confusing classification system. In 1950, after it released upgraded prime movers (the model 606 and 608) it likewise used a simpler system of model type and horsepower (for instance, the S-12 meant Switcher, 1,200 horsepower). For a total production roster of Baldwin DS-4-4-750s please click here. Also, for technical data on the model please click here. Finally, for more information about the DS-4-4-750s and all Baldwin switcher models please refer to the chart below.

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Baldwin Switchers

Model Type	Units Built	Date Built	Horsepower
VO-660	142	1939-1946	660
DS-4-4-660	139	1946-1949	660
VO-1000	548	1939-1946	1,000
DS-4-4-1000	502	1946-1951	1,000
S-8	54	1951-1953	800
S-12	451	1951-1956	1,200
DS-4-4-750	53	1949-1951	750

For more information on the Baldwin DS-4-4-750 switcher locomotive consider Mike Schafer’s Vintage Diesel Locomotives which looks at virtually all of the classic builders and models from Alco PAs to early EMD Geeps. If you’re interested in classic Baldwins, or diesels in general, this book gives an excellent general history of both.

You may also want to consider the book Evolution of the American Diesel Locomotive by author J. Parker Lamb. As the title implies the book looks at the history and development of the diesel locomotives, covering 200 pages, from its earliest beginnings to the newest designs and models operated today. If you're interested in perhaps purchasing either (or both) of these books please visit the links below which will take you to ordering information through Amazon.com, the trusted online shopping network.

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