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Taken January 2005

Quick history.

The Arizona Railway Museum acquired the Baldwin DRS 6-6-1500 from the Magma Arizona Railroad. The mine crew gave the Baldwin a jump start as the batteries were known to be dead (they jump started the engine from another engine at Superior). The theory was the batteries would charge during the trip. The engine got it all the way to the Southern Pacific main line and turned the engine off saying 'It would start up again no problem.' Well, there was 1 little problem. The mine crew forgot to fill the engines batteries with water so then engine would not start and after being towed to the museum it sat for a few years while funds were raised to replace the dead and very expensive batteries. In 2004 the Baldwin came back to life with the help of mechanics from the Grand Canyon Railroad. In the mean time the museum used it's 1943 Plymouth ML-8 to move the cars around the yard. That was until in 2003 she blew a 2 inch hole in one of the cylinder walls. After much debate and cost of making new parts, a nation wide search could not find any parts anywhere, the Plymouth also ran again. She still needs some work to smooth out the engine timing but it marked the first time the museum had both engines operable at the same time.

So at the annual museum business meeting all of us members and guests were treated to being able to watch as both engines were fired up and run up and down the tracks. There are even shots from inside the Baldwin.

Listen closely to the Plymouth videos. The sound recording does not do tell you how loud the backfiring really is.

Baldwin DRS 6-6-1500