The Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831-1915: A Study in American Industrial Practice (Studies in Industry and Society)

The largest maker of heavy machinery in Gilded Age America and an important global exporter, the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia achieved renown as one of the nation's most successful and important firms. Relying on gifted designers and skilled craftsmen, Baldwin built thousands of standard and custom steam locomotives, ranging from narrow gauge 0-4-0 industrial engines to huge mallet compounds. John K. Brown analyzes the structure of railroad demand; the forces driving continual innovation in locomotive design; Baldwin's management systems, shop-floor skills, and career paths; and the evolution of production methods.

The Baldwin locomotive company also bridged the era of the introduction of gas and then electric lights, it boosted productivity as the same assets, buildings and equipemnt could now produce 24 hours a day. In 1906 the company produced 2,666 locomotives, In the era around World War I the inevitable decline started. It was a partnership company in world of corporations with their professional management. Baldwin had a historically low profit margin making customer designed products. The custom designing took an army of draftsmen,and skilled labor at assembly. The final nail in the coffin was General Motors entry into the market. With a corporate structure, and years of experince in the American System of Manufacturing (mass production), GM lured the railroads over to standard design diesel locomotives from Baldwin's custom built steam engines on price alone. Baldwin's low profit margins prevented it from entering the Diesel market and effectively competing. Instead the company went the way of the steam locomotive and closed in 1956.
My hat is off to this author, he not only touched upon every issue, he excelled at the explanations. The style of using subchapters with titles reinforces the organization of the information brought forth. This is not a book for everybody, but most people involved in manufactuirng or management will find something of interest. Still the book is geared for the researcher. A little explanation of locomotive design terminology would have been helpful.


Great study of nineteenth century business   October 30, 2002
 10 out of 10 found this review helpful

In eight weeks, thousands of workers at the Baldwin Works of Philadelphia would take a custom design from drawings to finished product. By 1905, more than seven engines rolled out of the plant every day. How this was done is the subject of this very interesting book. Baldwin was the premier locomotive manufacturer and ranked at the top of American industry for sixty years. Ironically, the major strength of the Baldwin company, the ability to build custom products efficiently to the customer's specific demands, was to prove a major weakness as the economy changed to a more consumer-driven environment where "standardized products, hierarchical managerial structures, and market control strategies dominated." Builders could not compete with manufacturers who mass-produced standard designs.

Matthias Baldwin began as a jewel smith in Philadelphia, but he was enamored of technology and soon built a small engine. More than a toy, it powered his first shop for forty years and now resides in the Smithsonian. Philadelphia, home of the Franklin Institute, which supported new inventions and technology, was also the home of numerous machine shops, and soon Baldwin had created a shop where he began to design ever better steam engines for railroads. He invented the Jervis leading truck, a pair of wheels that moved along as the track curved, reducing the number of derailments. His flexible-beam design became very popular because it had more driving wheels and with the weight of the engine over the drivers it could pull longer and heavier freight trains. By 1846, his shop made forty-two types of engines, he had paid off all his debts, and he had survived the panic of 1837, a severe market reversal. He had also bought out his early partners, making him the sole owner of the company.

You really have to be a locomotive or railroad buff to enjoy this book (isn't everybody?), but there is also a great deal about capitalism and market conditions in the nineteenth century. The Baldwin Works managed productivity increases on an average of 3.1% per year, as compared with 1.9% nationally, and it accomplished this through organizational and technical changes. By 1906, Baldwin was producing a locomotive every three hours, twenty-four hours a day. Baldwin minimized the risk inherent in the system by engaging in industry-wide price-fixing agreements, and he relied on "just-in-time" inventory supplies to reduce the need for substantial working capital. He drew a great deal of technical expertise from his customers, the railroads. The author suggests that Baldwin's success came also because of his reliance on a core of skilled workers rather than on trying to improve profits by manipulating workers and exploiting them.

That Baldwin rapidly lost ground to the diesel-electric engine may suggest that individual leadership tied to an entrenched way of operation might be a disadvantage in the long run.


A little lacking   December 8, 2000
 12 out of 15 found this review helpful

I am interested in the nuts and bolts, brick and mortar part of the railroad industry. This book dealt too much with financial institutions and political connections for me. I could care less about the problems management had with workers, or if a union wanted to organize, or if they were having money problems. I wanted more photos, with views of the erecting floors and machine shops, things of that nature. Not enough topics concerning the actual construction process.


If you like trains and manufacturing   December 14, 1999
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

If you like trains and how they were manufactured or if you have a passing interest in how large scale capital items were manufactured. This book is for you. I was just curious since I am a Baldwin. I enjoyed it.