Baldwin Locomotive Works - World War II

World War II

In 1941 the United States' entry into World War II destroyed Baldwin's diesel development program when the War Production Board dictated that Alco and Baldwin produce only steamers and diesel-electric yard switching engines. Electro-Motive Division (EMD) was assigned the task of producing road freight diesels (namely, the FT series), which might plausibly have given the latter a distinct advantage over its competitors in that product line in the years that followed World War II, due to the head start in diesel R&D and production. But longtime GM leader Alfred P. Sloan presents a timeline in his memoir that belies this assumption. He says that GM's diesel-engine R&D efforts of the 1920s and 1930s, and its application of model design standardization (yielding lower unit costs) and marketing lessons learned in the automotive industry, were the principal reason for EMD's competitive advantage in the late 1940s and afterward (clearly implying that the wartime production assignments were merely nails in a coffin that Baldwin and Lima had already built for themselves before the war). In his telling, the R&D needed to adapt earlier diesels (best suited to marine and stationary use) to locomotive use (smaller; higher power-to-weight ratio; more reliable given more vibration and less maintenance) was a capital-intensive project that almost no one among the railroad owners or locomotive builders was willing (latter) or able (former) to invest in during the 1920s and 1930s, save the people of Winton, Electro-Motive, and Charles F. Kettering of the GM Research Corporation.

During World War II Baldwin was one of the manufacturers of the Sherman tank. Also its subsidiary, the Whitcomb Locomotive Company produced hundreds of 65 ton diesel electric locomoitves for the Army and would receive the Army-Navy "E" award for production.

Between 1940 and 1948, domestic steam locomotive sales declined from 30 percent of the market to 2 percent. By 1949, there was no demand for steam locomotives. In July 1948 Westinghouse Electric, which had teamed with Baldwin to build diesel and electric carbodies, purchased 500,000 shares, or 21 percent, of Baldwin stock, which made Westinghouse Baldwin's largest shareholder. Baldwin used the money to cover various debts. Westinghouse vice president Marvin W. Smith became Baldwin's president in May 1949. In a move to diversify its operations Baldwin merged with Lima-Hamilton on December 4, 1950, to become Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton. However market share continued to dwindle. In 1953 Westinghouse discontinued building electrical traction equipment, and so Baldwin was forced to purchase electrical equipment from General Electric.