PHOTO GALLERY

CHICAGO'S "OUTER BELT LINE" bought its first diesel switcher from EMC in December 1936, and by the end of World War II it rostered 77 switchers, including 21 Alcos and 13 Baldwins. The "J" was owned by United States Steel and used its 130-mile main line around Chicago to link 35 railroads radiating out of the city with the steel mills on the Illinois-Indiana lakefront. Switchers handled a big part of the EJ&E's business, and the diesels were just what it needed. But the road hauls were handled mostly by 2-8-2s, and the cab-and-booster road sets of that era were not suited to the J's stop-and-work-the-interchanges style of operation, that involved a lot of back-up moves. The 1500-h.p road switchers were not quite what the J had in mind, either, and Baldwin offered to custom build a unit that would meet the needs of heavy transfer service. Baldwin and the EJ&E worked together to design a six-motor, twin-engine 2000-h.p. monster centercab, and EJ&E 100 rolled out in May 1946 dressed in solid orange. Beginning in 1948, 26 more followed, and they became the J's primary road locomotives. In the mid-1950s the 606SC engines were beginning to show heavy wear, and EMD was eager to offer a repowering program, using its 12-567 engines. The J sent 14 units to La Grange for repowering, and they emerged with modified EMD hoods and an impressive orange and green paint scheme, being renumbered into the 900s but keeping their original last two digits. In October 1965, the 912 was photographed at the C&EI tower in Chicago Heights. (Jim Boyd))

Photograph from Baldwin Diesels - 1 In Color by Jim Boyd.

ORDER TODAY

Back to Special Features Photo Gallery