Baldwin Locomotive Works - Early Years

Early Years

Baldwin struggled to survive the Panic of 1837. Production fell from 40 locomotives in 1837 to just nine in 1840 and the company was heavily in debt. As part of the survival strategy, Matthias Baldwin took on two partners, George Vail and George Hufty. Although the partnerships proved relatively short-lived, they helped Baldwin pull through the economic hard times.

Zerah Colburn was one of many engineers who had a close association with the Baldwin Locomotive Works. Between 1854 and the start of his weekly paper, the Railroad Advocate and 1861, when Colburn went to work more or less permanently in London, England, the journalist was in frequent touch with M. W. Baldwin, as recorded in Zerah Colburn: The Spirit of Darkness. Colburn was full of praise for the quality of Baldwin's work.

Initially, Baldwin would build many more steam locomotives at its cramped 196 acres (0.79 km2) Broad Street Philadelphia shop but would begin an incremental shift in production to a 616 acres (2.49 km2) site located at Spring Street in nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in 1906. Broad Street was constricted, but even so, it was a huge complex, occupying the better part of 8 square city blocks from Broad to 18th St. and Spring Garden to the Reading tracks just past Noble Street. Eddystone on the other hand was spread out over 600 acres. Its capacity was well over 3000 locomotives per year. The move from Broad Street was completed in the late 1920s.

In the 1850s, railroad building became a national obsession, with many new carriers starting up, particularly in the Midwest and South. While this helped drive up demand for Baldwin products, it also increased competition as more companies entered the locomotive-production field.

Still, Baldwin had trouble keeping pace with orders and in the early 1850s began paying workers piece-rate pay. Taking advantage of human nature, this increased incentives and productivity. By 1857, the company turned out 66 locomotives and employed 600 men. But another economic downturn, this time the Panic of 1857, cut into business again. Output fell by 50 percent in 1858.