The "Beep" #1460

The Baldwin Locomotive Works was the most dominate locomotive builders during the steam era. Building steam locomotives for America and abroad, this Pennsylvania company would build over 70,000 locomotives before it's demise. If they were so successful, how could they end up bankrupt and out business by the 1960s? While they were confident in their steam locomotives, perhaps they were a bit too confident. Diesel powered locomotives in the early 20th century were good for yard switching and not much else. Baldwin did not see the diesel engine as a threat to the mainline steam locomotive; as such they would end up investing very little into development of their own.

Then came World War II. The United States War Production Board would place restrictions on the building of new diesel locomotives from the primary steam locomotive builders. This limited them to building only steam locomotives and smaller diesels meant for yard switching. EMD had started to see success pre-war with mainline diesels meant for both mainline passenger and freight use. The restrictions would end benefiting EMD greatly, and guaranteed their post-war market domination.

While Alco managed to land itself in a distant second place in the post-war diesel battle, Baldwin would end up in an even more distant third. Plagued with reliability and compatibility problems, Baldwin struggled to match even Alco in terms of mainline diesel locomotives. Once the demand for new steam locomotives was extinct throughout the world, Baldwin went extinct along with them.

With Baldwin out of business, sourcing replacement parts for existing locomotives became an increasing issue as time went on. Santa Fe had a large assortment of end-cab switchers, including a sizeable fleet of Baldwin VO-1000s that were purchased during the war. By the late 60s, the service life for these units was expiring along with Santa Fe's other switchers from Alco and Fairbanks-Morse, both of whom had left the locomotive business by 1970.

Santa Fe was having a great deal of success with their new CF7 rebuild program. They took a large number of their older streamlined EMD F units, and extensively rebuilt them into a more freight and switching friendly design. Over 200 CF7s would eventually be constructed at Santa Fe's Cleburne, TX shops. Many of these CF7s still serve on shortline railroads today, a testament to EMD quality and Santa Fe craftsmanship.

The railroad saw the success of the CF7 program and decided to test the financial viability of rebuilding their fleet of switchers with EMD engines and equipment. 2220, a Baldwin VO-1000 would be chosen as the test unit for this new program. 

ATSF 2220 (built in 1943) would be sent in to the Cleburne shops in 1970. Cleburne would give the locomotive an extensive makeover; the only things remaining original being the cast iron frame and distinctive Baldwin cab. Nearly everything else would be completely replaced and overhauled. 

The engine would be swapped out for a 16 cylinder, roots-blown EMD 567 prime mover rated at 1,500 HP, upping it from the original 1,000 HP of the Baldwin engine. To house the new engine, an style EMD long hood would be fabricated. This new hood extended to the very top of the cab, creating its distinct look compared to other switchers. A completely new EMD electrical system came along with the engine as well. EMD Blomberg style four axle trucks would be fitted underneath which required extensive modification to the frame. 

It would leave the shop with the new number of 2450, along with the new Santa Fe designation of SWBLW. It's paintscheme would be the only it would ever wear post rebuild, a version of Santa Fe's "pinstripe" scheme, though lacking the small black Santa Fe emblem that most locomotives had.

By all accounts, the SWBLW was an excellent locomotive. It's heavy, cast iron frame coupled with the Blomberg trucks gave it great pulling capability and a smooth ride making it an instant hit with yard crews. Railfans of course quickly fell in love too given its weird, one of kind nature. They would came to dub it the "Beep," an amalgamation of Baldwin and "Geep" (Geep was a common nickname for EMD's GP series of four axle locomotives of which the Beep shared many similarities to).

To Santa Fe executives however, the Beep was undoubtedly a failure. The extensive reworking that was required for the Beep made it far too expensive to be practical. Seeing the that program wouldn't be another CF7 success story, Santa Fe quickly killed the program and carried on doing just the CF7s. Santa Fe would put out to pasture its remaining non-EMD switchers over the next few years.

Given all the time, money, and effort that had been poured into it, the railroad hung on to the Beep since it was working well. Santa Fe would lease the Beep to the Port Terminal Railroad Association in Houston, TX for several years. After a few years, the Beep would be renumbered to 1160 to avoid conflicts with the CF7 rebuilds.

The Beep would go on to become something of a legend on the railroad. It was renumbered for the final time to 1460 in the late 70s, and by the mid 80s it was assigned to be the switch engine for the Cleburne shops. The 80s also brought about some modifications for the Beep. Air conditioning was added along with a modified rear window arrangement, differently positioned headlights, and a relocated horn. The original Baldwin cab featured four large windows, but this was changed to six smaller EMD size windows to make replacements easier.

By the late 80s, it would become the last end-cab switcher on the Santa Fe. They had come prefer the more versatile road switcher type of locomotive, but despite this, the Beep soldiered on. It would also be the last locomotive on the roster to wear the railroad's older "pinstripe" scheme.

The locomotive would continue to serve as a shop switcher for the rest of it's career, though it would change assignments often between the Argentine and Topeka shops. In the 90s, it would even gain remote control ability. This allowed a person to control the Beep without needing to be in the cab or even on the locomotive itself. This equipment would later be removed.

1996 would bring the merger with the Burlington Northern. Even though this brought about great change to both former railroads, the Beep managed to last well past the merger. It would even go mostly unscathed, retaining it's 1460 road number during a time when nearly every older ATSF unit was being renumbered. 

BNSF lettering would eventually appear on it in the form of small patches placed below the numbers on the cab. BNSF would also change the exhaust manifold to a new four stack version, becoming the last major modification it would receive.

Sadly though, nothing last forever. The Beep had somehow managed to survive all these decades and even a merger, but alas, its time had come. In 2008, the Beep would suffer a mechanical issue and would be put out of service, and ultimately retired. Again, the Beep would once again prove lucky as in May of 2009, the Beep was donated to the Western America Railroad Museum by BNSF.

Serving 27 years as a VO-1000 and 38 years as the Beep, it managed to have an incredible 65 years of total service. Without a doubt, the Beep was the weirdest, most fascinating little engine on the Santa Fe.