Inside Baldwin Pennsylvania: 20,000 Workers Built 70,000 Steam Locomotives — That Powered America

Step inside Baldwin Locomotive Works—Philadelphia’s industrial giant that turned one jeweler’s curiosity into a force that moved an entire nation. From Matthias Baldwin’s first engine, Old Ironsides, to a legacy of nearly 70,000 locomotives, this story follows the 130-year rise of a factory powered by 20,000 workers: immigrants, machinists, riveters, and—during WWII—thousands of women who stepped onto the floor when the world demanded output at any cost.

You’ll see how precision manufacturing, brutal conditions, and relentless schedules forged machines that became lifelines in World War I and World War II, hauling troops, ammunition, fuel, and supplies when logistics decided victory. From wartime standardization like the S160 class, to the shift that steam couldn’t survive, Baldwin’s decline mirrors America’s rapid transition to diesel-electric locomotives—and the human toll of deindustrialization when the orders stopped. This isn’t just railroad history. It’s the story of labor, sacrifice, and the forgotten builders who made modern America run.

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