Matthias W. Baldwin founded Baldwin Locomotive Works in his tiny shop in Lodge Alley, Philadelphia in 1831. His first locomotive, "Old Ironsides," weighed five tons, had to be taken out of the shop through a hole in the wall. It could run the six miles from Philadelphia to Germantown in twelve minutes—in good weather. In 1849 Matthias Baldwin built the "Governor Paine" which worked up a speed of 60 m.p.h. on the new Vermont Central Railroad. Baldwin locomotives puffed through the Civil War, through the lusty era of Westward expansion, through the...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
