The Baldwin Centipede was the Baldwin Locomotive Works' first serious attempt at a production main-line diesel locomotive. The Baldwin type designation was DR-12-8-1500/2 meaning a diesel road locomotive, with 12 axles, 8 of which were driven, and two engines of 1500 hp each.
| Pennsylvania Railroad Baldwin Centipedes (class BP-60) |
The design reflected Baldwin steam locomotive and electric locomotive practice. The locomotive body rode on two massive cast steel half-frames cast by General Steel Castings, linked at the middle with a hinged joint. Unpowered four-wheel trucks at each end guided the locomotive for stability at speed. Internal wiring was passed through metal conduits exactly like those used on a steam locomotive, and this proved troublesome in practise.
The prototype (a 2-unit set) was built in 1945 and toured American railroads. Orders followed from the Pennsylvania Railroad (24), the Seaboard Air Line (14) and the Mexican railroad Nacionales de Mexico (14). The two demonstrators were never sold and were eventually scrapped.
The Centipedes were very soon obsolete; the state of the art overtook them. Reliability was a problem, and the PRR's units were eventually stripped of their turbochargers and placed in pusher service and light freight use.
