Baldwin Steam Locomotive Mountain Type in 1924 Postcard

From www.railphotoexpress.biz Mountain Type Steam Locomotives Built in 1924 The Baldwin Locomotive Works poster shows one of three through trains operated each way daily on The Norfolk & Western Railway over a distance of 320 miles without changing engines. The Baldwin Locomotive Works was the largest and most successful locomotive building firm in the world. It was begun as a machine shop owned and operated by Matthias W. Baldwin in 1831. Baldwin turned out its first locomotive engine from its shop in Philadelphia in 1832; within a few years the company was producing two a month and employed 240 men. By 1852, 500 engines had been produced; by 1861, 1,000; and by 1868, 2,000. At that point, the company employed between 1,600-1,700 men, and was one of the very largest machine works in the nation. In 1906 Baldwin began construction of a large auxiliary plant in the Philadelphia suburb of Eddystone. In 1928 the Broad Street plant was closed and all work transferred to the Eddystone Plant.