Railroad History

Passenger and Commuter Rail

Railroading Today

Rolling Stock

Infrastructure and Terms

Museums and Tourism

Miscellaneous

About The Site

[?] Subscribe To American-Rails.com

The Baldwin DT-6-6-2000

The Baldwin DT-6-6-2000 was one of the most interesting models released by a major manufacturer. The Baldwin Locomotive Works was the first company to catalog a transfer switcher, a specialized type of locomotive intended to be used in heavy drag service over short distances, such as on terminal railroads or moving cuts of cars between local yards. Believing that there was a market for such a locomotive Baldwin released the DT-6-6-2000 directly after World War II, one of first models to employ the company's own prime mover. For a switcher, the locomotive was massive and longer than virtually every road switcher or cab unit on the market at that time. However, it was powerful and offered absolutely phenomenal tractive effort. Unfortunately, the DT-6-6-2000 had mechanical issues and railroads were never interested in such a specialized locomotive resulting in less than 50 units being built when production ended.

The Baldwin DT-6-6-2000 was an incredibly large switcher, originally cataloged by the company in May, 1946 was likely the biggest and longest every built at over 70 feet in length and weighing a hefty 360,000 pounds or 180 tons, easily making it the heaviest in its class. It utilized two of Baldwin's 606 SC model prime movers, using a C-C truck setup (i.e., three axles per truck) and could produce 2,000 horsepower. Perhaps most unique to the model was that despite its length its cab was actually centrally located along the body, almost giving it the appearance of a very long General Electric 44-ton switcher. Unfortunately, the long length made visibility rather poor for a switcher. The locomotive was also fairly tall at 14 feet to the top of the cab.

During the 1940s Baldwin still shrugged the notion of diesels being a main line locomotive. The company also held the philosophy that those which it did produce should be customized to either whatever the railroad requested or for a specific job/task, as was the general case in building steam locomotives. Because of this, the DT-6-6-2000 was born. The model's classification was also based from the designations for steam locomotives, thus all of the letters, dashes, and numbers. The "DT" referred to Diesel Transfer while the first "6" referred to four overall axles; the second "6" referred to four powered traction motors; and "2000" stood for the horsepower rating.

As it turned out there was not much of a market of the transfer switcher Baldwin ultimately only sold 46 units by the time production had ended in February, 1950. The Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway purchased the most, 27 (including one of the demonstrators), and actually became quite famous for its fleet of DT-6-6-2000s although they would later re-power them with EMD model 567 prime movers and remained in service through the mid-1970s. Still, the locomotive could not be questioned for its astronomically high tractive effort, something no other switcher could match; 105,000 pounds starting and 62,250 pounds continuous. If you were wanting to move several heavy loaded cars the DT-6-6-2000 was certainly up to the task.

Baldwin also released an updated version of the transfer switcher, the RT624, but it would sell fewer examples than its predecessor. Today, one Baldwin DT-6-6-2000 remains preserved, former Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern Railway #21 at the Illinois Railway Museum. For a total production roster of Baldwin DT-6-6-2000s please click here. If you would like technical data on the unit please click here. Lastly, for more information about the DT-6-6-2000s and all Baldwin transfer switcher models please refer to the chart below.

Please Click Here To Return To The Main Diesel Locomotives Section

Baldwin Transfer Switchers

Model Type	Units Built	Date Built	Horsepower
DT-6-6-2000	46	1948-1950	2,000
RT-624	24	1951-1952	2,400

For more information on the Baldwin DT-6-6-2000 transfer switchers 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.

Share Your Thoughts

Have your say about what you just read! Leave me a comment in the box below. Please note that while I strive to present the information as accurately as possible I am aware that there may be errors. If you have potential corrections the help is greatly appreciated.