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Baldwin Custom Switchers

Contained within THIS Baldwin pack are specs for Baldwins for my fictional railroads.

The models go as follow this time:

Baldwin VO-1000R
Baldwin VO-1000R w/ PTC (Livery of the above)
Baldwin VO-1000E
Baldwin Yard Slug (TE-BSW)
Baldwin Yard Slug w/ PTC (TE-BSW, Livery of the above)

Trucks by Long

NO LIVERIES INCLUDED!

Lights:
L - Hood Headlight
L+1 - Cab Headlight
L+2 - Ditch Lights
L+3 - Beacons

History:

In 1946, the Mid Mon Valley Railway (MMV) ran commuter and freight services between the old city of Allegheny (annexed by Pittsburgh in 1902) and Waynesburg, PA using mostly antiquated and outdated steam locomotives. Pushes by management for new diesels came before the Second World War, however no diesel locomotive orders would be placed until 1946, when Baldwin was selected to host MMV's newest motive power: A test run of 6 VO-660 diesels (Numbered 61-66). The trial run proved successful and MMV began to purchase more Baldwin power, including 14 Baldwin VO-1000s (101-114), 5 Baldwin S8s (80-85), 10 Baldwin S12s (120-129, and several other Baldwin models before they lost all trust in unreliable Baldwin models and stopped ordering from Baldwin.

In the early 1960s, MMV began retrofitting its older Baldwin VO models with EMD 567 prime movers to come up to the standards of EMD switchers. The VO-660ms were rebuilt to SW900 specifications (161-166), while the VO-1000ms were rebuilt to SW1200 specifications (131-144). These locomotives continued service into the merger of Mid Mon Valley, Central Railroad of Allegheny (CRAG), and the Weirton and Canton Railroad. These three railroads merged in 1975 to purchase portions of the old Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis Railroad (The Panhandle Line) from the coming-into-being Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail).

The newly formed Allegheny Central Railroad (ALLG) inherited all of Mid Mon Valley's Baldwin locomotives and rebuilds and wanted to further extend the life of all its Baldwins. Allegheny Central deemed the S8s (1040-1044) and S12s (1030-1039) as reliable enough to go without a rebuild, and set their sights on the VO-660ms (1024-1029) and VO-1000ms (1010-1023) for possible rebuilds.

In 1983, it was decided that the VO-1000ms would be rebuilt to similar standards to Union Pacific's SW10 switcher locomotives. This included upgrading of the EMD 567C prime mover to an EMD 645E prime mover, electrical radiator fans in place of the belt-driven ones, placement of exterior sand boxes, and new electrical systems. Unfortunately for the rebuild program, only 7 of the 14 locomotives (1010, 1012, 1013, 1014, 1016, 1018 and 1021) were rebuild into "VO-1000Rs" before ALLG went bankrupt in 1986. These lcoomotives would be numbered in the series 1700-1706 in order of which locomotive was rebuilt first.

When reorganized as Allegheny Central Railway (ACER), the rebuild program was restarted with two more locomotives (1019 as 1707 and 1022 as 1708). These locomotives would be renumbered 1300-1308 in 1991 when they were assigned to work the Union Steel Plant in Beaver, PA when Allegheny Central acquired the rail operation shortline of Union Steel (USTS).

The VO-660ms were selected by ACER for conversion to slugs. A similar rebuild program by the ALLG never panned out due to their bankruptcy, and all VO-660ms were rebuilt into ACER 210-214, one having wrecked in the past, with all prime mover components removed, flattened hoods, removed cabs, and other facets of a yard slug. Designed as TE-BSW, they were assigned to work with VO-1000Rs and went to the Union Steel Plant in 1991 as well.

By 1991, all the Baldwin S8 and S12s were scrapped, not having made it very far in under their third owner, while the VO-1000Rs and TE-BSWs continued working until the mid-2010s, where Allegheny Central again evaluated their continued usage. The TE-BSWs were upgraded with electronics, however the VO-1000Rs were in need of modernization. Borrowing plans from Norfolk Southern's MP15E program, the VO-1000Rs would be rebuilt in 2017 with new generators, upgrading cooling fans, microprocessor electronics, and new handbrakes. These would be designated as VO-1000Es and be numbered 1509-1517 and continue to work Union Steel until the subsidiary they worked for (Allegheny and Western Industrial Railroad, AWIR) was dissolved.

After the dissolution of AWIR in February 2023, five VO-1000Es and all TE-BSWs were retained by Allegheny Central and continue to work the Union Steel Plant in Beaver as of the current time.