On page 32 of the Mike Schafer/Joe Welsh "Classic American Streamliners" there is a picture of Baldwin 'baby face' leading a F3 on the New York Central's Ohio State Limited into Cincinnati.
My understanding has always been that Baldwin diesels could not MU with the other makers units because Baldwin used a pneumatic MU control system whereas the other makers used electrical MU control.
So my question would be, is the Baldwin actually in MU or is it just providing single unit power and pulling the F3 and the rest of the train in tow.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
"Out of the box" Baldwin diesels couldn't MU with other brands, however Baldwin did come out with an adaptor kit later that made it possible.
So yes, it's entirely possible that Baldwin is MU'd with the F3.
Now here's something else interesting. The original FT units couldn't MU with other diesels either, unless they were in an "AA,", "ABA," or "ABBA" configuration. There were no MU cables through the noses of the A units.
I imagine the EMD guys said later, "Whoops! Never thought of that!"
A few Baldwins actually did have electric MU, although I think they may have been mostly roadswitchers. No idea here. If the F3 died, the BLW may have been the rescue unit, and the incompatible MU would be irrelevant. I have seen diesels hauling the Turbotrain, and definitely no MU possible there.
Another possibility is there is a second engineer, doubleheading as in steam days. It is also not unheard of for the fireman to move back and run a trailing unit in such circumstances.
cx500A few Baldwins actually did have electric MU, although I think they may have been mostly roadswitchers. No idea here. If the F3 died, the BLW may have been the rescue unit, and the incompatible MU would be irrelevant. I have seen diesels hauling the Turbotrain, and definitely no MU possible there. Another possibility is there is a second engineer, doubleheading as in steam days. It is also not unheard of for the fireman to move back and run a trailing unit in such circumstances.
F3 had it's nose coupled to the train, so it was never the controlling unit of the train.
In that case, a strong possibility is the train was involved in a grade crossing accident and the original lead unit was removed due to front end damage.
New York Central and Seaboard Air Line postwar Baldwins had electric MU compatible with Alco/GE and EMD. It was basically the same as used on Fairbanks-Morse equipment (also owned by NYC, but not SAL). Some railroads - notably Union Pacific - used a two jumper configuration on all brands, requiring a "Y" cable when UP and CB&Q started run-throughs in Grand Island NB.
Considering the time they were built, I would think that their only MU capability was with each other. Diesels were still uncommon and most switchers were not equipped with MU. The handful of road diesels at the time were in passenger service and probably had limited MU capabilities.
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