DVD: Steaming the Last Baldwin
This is one of the Kalmbach, Trains Magazine, high quality videos.
It is the story of how C&O 2-6-6-2 compound articulated (Mallet) locomotive No. 1309 was rescued and returned to operating condition on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad in Cumberland, Maryland.
No. 1309 was one of 10 H-6 class 2-6-6-2s C&O purchased from Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1949. They were intended to be one-for-one replacements for old H-6s from 1924 that had long been in use on the mine run trains out of Peach Creek yard in C&O's Logan, W. Va. coal district.
As it happened, these were the last steam locomotives ever built in the United States for domestic use, and No. 1309 was the last of the last!
It worked out of Peach Creek until the late summer of 1956 when it was one of the last C&O steam locomotives finally retired. However, it was kept for possible donation by rather than being scrapped. Finally, it was given a cosmetic overhaul and sent to the B&O Railroad Museum in 1976.
The rest of the story is well known, as it was transferred to the Western Maryland Scenic RR in 2014, and now has finally been restored to near operating condition. It has now operated under its own steam.
This is a wonderful story of how, almost by chance, this last domestic steam product and the last of the long line of Baldwin engines, has now been given a new lease on life!
High quality 60-minute video from Kalmbach, whose products are known for their quality of presentation and execution.
Don’t miss this all-new, exclusive coverage of the restoration of the world’s largest operating Mallet and the largest articulated steam locomotive in the eastern U.S.
In this DVD, Steaming the Last Baldwin, Trains covers the railroad upon which it runs, Western Maryland Scenic based in Cumberland, Md., and expands to cover the history and production of one of the big three American locomotive builders: Philadelphia-based Baldwin, which produced 1309 as its last domestic product in 1949.
Running Time: 1 hour, 35 minutes
Buy the Special Edition magazine along with this DVD BK-21-984
