Whitcomb/Baldwin Locomotive 316
Our locomotive 316 was built by Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton’s Whitcomb Locomotive Company subsidiary at Eddystone, Pa., between 1954 and 1956. Only five locomotives of this configuration were built. The 316 is a 50-ton, 330-horsepower, diesel-electric switcher used by industries to move cars at their facilities. Whitcomb’s model designation for this locomotive was “S-3,” while Baldwin’s was “S-4300.”
Technically, the 316 is a Whitcomb locomotive. Founded in 1886, the George D. Whitcomb Company was incorporated in Illinois with its headquarters in Chicago. The company’s primary business was machinery used in coal mining. Eventually, Whitcomb expanded to manufacture equipment for other industries and in 1906 the company built a successful gasoline-powered locomotive for use in coal mining. In 1912 Whitcomb shifted its entire focus to locomotive production. Production took place in Rochelle, Ill.
Whitcomb produced specialty locomotives for use by the U.S. and its allies in Europe during World War I. In 1927, Philadelphia-based Baldwin Locomotive Works began representing the Geo. D. Whitcomb Co. to expand sales internationally. Baldwin invested in Whitcomb and eventually secured control when Whitcomb experienced financial difficulties in 1930 due to the Great Depression. In April 1931, after Whitcomb went bankrupt, Baldwin purchased the company’s assets and created a subsidiary company named Whitcomb Locomotive Company.
For the next two decades Whitcomb was moderately successful. In 1952, Whitcomb locomotive production moved from Rochelle, Ill., to Eddystone, Pa. Whitcomb had produced more than 5,000 locomotives before production ended in 1956 due to competition and Baldwin’s focus on transitioning production from steam locomotives to diesels.
Nicknamed “Dorothy”, 316 worked on a shortline railroad in Nebraska and was subsequently acquired by global agricultural giant Cargill for use at a grain facility before being retired. The locomotive was purchased by a private party in 2023 who donated it to our museum, and it arrived in Wichita during April of that year.