Dovetail Games’ partner programme member DTM (Digital Train Models) will soon be bringing Baldwin’s iconic RF-16 “Sharknose” diesel – in classic Pennsylvania Railroad Brunswick green and gold five-stripe livery – to Train Simulator and Horseshoe Curve!
To give its locomotives a unique style, Baldwin built the iconic
“Sharknose” diesel, which is coming to Train Simulator.
Baldwin book author Gary Dolzall tells the story.
Following the introduction of Electro-Motive’s landmark FT diesel freight locomotive in 1939, it was clear that the age of steam on North America’s railroads was entering twilight. It was clear, too, that an enormous market opportunity would exist over the next several decades for the sale and production of streamlined diesel freight locomotives.
By virtue of the FT, Electro-Motive immediately took the dominant position in the market, producing more than 1,000 FTs between 1939 and 1945, then following up with the highly successful F-3 (of which more than 1,800 units would be built). The other diesel-builders of that era – Alco, Baldwin, and Fairbanks-Morse – all were left to play catch-up.
At the mammoth Eddystone (Pennsylvania) plant of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, a facility born to build steam, BLW’s designers made their first attempt to compete directly with EMD’s F-units by creating the DR-4-4-1500, a 1,500-horsepower, four-axle (B-B) diesel available, like EMD Fs, in cab-and-booster sets. Powered by Baldwin’s slow-churning but potent 8-cylinder 608SC powerplant, the DR-4-4-1500 originally wore a “Babyface” cab styling very similar to that applied to Baldwin’s massive “Centipedes.” Between November 1947 and December 1948, Baldwin built cab and booster DR-4-4-1500s for three railroads – the Central of New Jersey, New York Central, and Missouri Pacific. While the Baldwin 608SC powerplant itself was reliable, the Babyface DR-4-4-1500s suffered from extensive reliability issues (mostly electrical and cooling systems related), and total production, 33 units, was paltry compared to sales of EMD F-units.
The Pennsylvania Railroad was always Baldwin’s biggest and most faithful diesel customer (among all BLW models, PRR purchased 628 Baldwin diesels). And so it was, in October 1948, that the PRR came to the rescue and placed a sizable order for DR-4-4-1500s – 52 units. But PRR’s DR-4-4-1500s would bear no resemblance to their Babyface predecessors. In 1947, Pennsy had ordered the first of 27 DR-6-4-2000 passenger diesels from Baldwin, and PRR had put its favorite industrial stylist, Raymond Loewy, to work to give the new passenger units some visual panache. The result was the first of Baldwin’s “Sharknose” diesels, a styling that was, in fact, adapted from PRR’s Baldwin-built T-1 4-4-4-4 steam locomotives. Anxious to also give its freight diesels a new and differentiated look, Baldwin then applied Sharknose styling to a fully redesigned DR-4-4-1500. This improved version of the DR-4-4-1500 also addressed many of the electrical and cooling system liabilities of the Babyface units, resulting in locomotives that were considerably more reliable. PRR eventually purchased a total of 68 Sharknose DR-4-4-1500s, and Baldwin also built an A-B-B-A demonstrator set. Dressed in a red-and-cream livery, the BLW DR-4-4-1500 demonstrators worked on railroads including the Baltimore & Ohio, Western Maryland, New York Central, Missouri-Kansas-Texas (Katy), Santa Fe, and Southern Pacific, and then was sold to the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern (and later resold to the B&O).
In 1950, Baldwin undertook an upgrade of its entire diesel line, which included an increase in horsepower of the 8-cylinder powerplant (which was re-designated 608A) from 1,500 horsepower to 1,600 horsepower. Baldwin’s locomotives all earned new model designations, too, and the DR-4-4-1500 became the RF-16. While RF-16 sales numbers would remain modest compared to EMD’s F units and even Alco-GE’s “FA” road diesels, the 1,600-horsepower Shark would attract new buyers and would prove a capable locomotive with, like most Baldwin diesels, enormous lugging power.
Between November 1950 and May 1953, three of the biggest railroads in the eastern United States would purchase a total of 130 RF-16s in cab or booster configurations. The Pennsylvania purchased 102 (72 cabs, 30 boosters), Baltimore & Ohio 32 (19 cabs, 13 boosters), and New York Central 26 (18 cabs, 8 boosters). PRR placed its RF-16s in service across the eastern portion of its vast system, and most typically operated the units in 4,800-horsepower A-B-A sets. Pennsy, as well as NYC and B&O, generally employed its RF-16s in heavy merchandise, coal, or ore services, where the exceptional hauling capacity of the Baldwins could be put to good use. PRR’s RF-16 Sharks remained in service until 1966 and B&O’s until 1967. NYC also retired its RF-16s at the same time (1966), but there was a most fascinating postscript. In 1967, the coal-hauling Monongahela Railway (original operator of what is Dovetail Games’ Norfolk Southern Coal District route) purchased nine ex-NYC Sharks and operated them into the 1970s. The last two RF-16s in Monongahela service – Nos. 1205 and 1216 – were retired by the MRY in 1972, but again dodged the scrapper when they were sold to the Delaware & Hudson, where they remained in service until 1977. Thereafter purchased by a private entity, the two remaining RF-16s were leased for service to several short lines in the upper Midwest. Eventually sidelined by mechanical ailments in the early 1980s, the two surviving RF-16 Sharks have ever seen been tucked away in storage.
There is one fascinating addendum to the Shark story. Before Baldwin ceased new locomotive deliveries in 1956, an export variation of the Shark – the R-615E – was constructed for the Argentine State Railways (General Roco). Riding a C-C wheel arrangement and wearing a stub-nosed version of the Shark carbody design, 51 such units were constructed in 1953-54, and one surviving R-615E is preserved in Argentina.
Baldwin’s iconic Sharknose is also about to return to American rails on Train Simulator’s Horseshoe Curve route! Dovetail Games’ programme partner DTM has created a highly authentic edition of the RF-16 Shark, featuring realistic operating characteristics and distinctive, slow-churning Baldwin diesel sounds, and dressed in PRR’s signature Brunswick Green and gold five-stripe livery. The PRR Sharknose DLC features cab and booster RF-16 models, a selection of period-appropriate PRR freight rolling stock (including two boxcars, bulkhead flats, a tank car and a PRR N8-class caboose), and scenario for the Horseshoe Curve route. – Gary Dolzall
Coming of the Shark: It was Pennsylvania’s DR-6-4-2000 diesels that debuted the Sharknose styling. PRR’s first set of the passenger units stood in front of Baldwin’s distinctive headquarters at Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Photo: Baldwin Locomotive Works.
The Pennsylvania was also the largest buyer of the freight version of the Shark, operating 68 DR-4-4-1500s and 102 RF-16s. A typical A-B-A lash-up of PRR RF-16s had heavy tonnage in tow in their home state. Photo: Dolzall collection.
Baldwin RF-16s wore some of North American railroading’s most renowned liveries. In addition to wearing PRR’s five-stripe scheme, RF-16s were dressed in Baltimore & Ohio’s classic blue, gray, and black colors (above), and in New York Central’s famous black, gray, and white “Lightning Stripe” livery (below). Both photos, Baldwin Locomotive Works.
Entirely unexpected was the turn of events that brought ex-New York Central RF-16s to the coal-hauling Monongahela Railway in the late 1960s. MRY 1216, which began life as an NYC unit in 1952, stood in the aged Monongahela roundhouse at Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in 1968. Photo by Gary Dolzall.
An A-B-A set of Pennsy RF-16s lend their 4,800 horsepower to a manifest freight leaving Altoona, Pennsylvania (above), then make the hard climb of the Alleghenies’ rugged east slope (below) on the TS2015 Horseshoe Curve route. All screenshots by the author. Note some content illustrated may still be in development.
Whatever the weather and whatever the trackside viewing angle, Baldwin’s unique Sharknose diesels were instantly recognizable. A pair of Pennsy Shark cab units are at work in Johnstown, Pennsylvania (above), while classic PRR RF-16 9708 (below) leads tonnage up and around snowy Horseshoe Curve.
Typical of first-generation diesels, the Baldwin RF-16 featured a rather austere but highly functional cab design. The DTM Baldwin RF-16 features an authentic control stand and a range of interactive control features.
Thanks to the upcoming DTM RF-16 (left) and the already available Reppo Centipede (right), two of the most famous of all Baldwin diesel types will be ready for service on Train Simulator’s fabled Horseshoe Curve route!