Baldwin RP-210
model of 3 American lightweight diesel-hydraulic locomotives
The RP-210 was a streamlined 1,000 hp (750 kW) locomotive built in 1956 by Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton, specifically to operate with the experimental, all-aluminum Train-X coaches that were built by the Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company. The model represented Baldwin's attempted entry into the lightweight passenger locomotive market, but only three of the low-slung diesel-hydraulic units were produced. The first RP-210 was built for the New York Central Railroad to power their Ohio Xplorer train between Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, and a pair was purchased by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad to double-end their Dan'l Webster, running between New York City and Boston.
The New Haven's RP-210s, with their three independent power systems, were among the most complex railroad locomotives in America. They featured a German prime mover with a hydraulic transmission, an auxiliary diesel and generator for on-train power, and two externally energized electric traction motors. The New York Central requested a booster unit, but none were built. The unique RP-210 was the last locomotive design to bear the BLH name. Along with the lightweight trains it powered, the RP-210 was unsuccessful in achieving stated goals and its service life was short. Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton expected to sell more to New Haven but NH went with 60 FL9 locomotives from EMD, which proved to be everything the RP-210 was not.
Mechanical
The New Haven and New York Central variants of the locomotives, while related share a few major differences between them.
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This entry incorporates text from “Baldwin RP-210” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.