My great, great uncle Robert F. McKee, Sr., was a design engineer at Baldwin and he would give my father different Baldwin Locomotive Works builder's cards when my father would visit him in Collingswood, New Jersey. There are three Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Yellowstone builders specification photo cards in the John R. Doughty collection, and one of the cards came with the following letters addressed to my father’s great uncle dated October 3, 1968, that I thought I would share with you.
“Dear Bob, On the occasion of our last trip to New Jersey Live Steamers, I believe you said that you did not have any picture of the big Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range engine in your possessions. I located a Baldwin specification card picture of this engine at home and am enclosing it herewith for you to keep. This was the locomotive you turned out and was a fine job, in several respects it exceeded Alco’s highly publicized “Big Boy” over which such a big fuss was made. It was nice seeing you again, it is too bad that we Baldwin men can’t get together more often to talk about the days when steam ruled the rails – and well that they did too! Kind regards, Sincerely, Fred Westing.”
It seems there was a little friendly competition / rivalry between steam locomotive builders back then.
This 2-8-8-4, number 231, was built for the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Eddystone, Pennsylvania. It had a massive total engine and tender weight of 1,138,000 lbs., and a tractive force of 140,000 lbs. The BLW construction number was 64,710. This Baldwin Locomotive Works builders photo card is from the John R. Doughty collection.
Dedicated to my father, John R. Doughty, Sr., and to his great uncle, Robert F. McKee, Sr., who worked at the Baldwin Locomotive Works as a senior design engineer, including working on the design for the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range 2-8-8-4 Yellowstones
