| Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad Baldwin VO-1000 9352 (c/n 70103) presumed at the Baldwin Eddystone, Pennsylvania plant around November 1943, print by H. L. Broadbelt, Chuck Zeiler collection. The CB&Q received a total of 30 VO-1000's from Baldwin, not by choice, but as doled out by the War Production Board during World War II. The CB&Q would have preferred EMD switchers, but EMD was restricted to producing the FT model road diesel and Model 567 diesel power plants for submarines. The VO-1000's were assigned the 9350-9379 number series. They were powered by a De La Vergne four-cycle eight-cylinder in-line diesel prime mover coupled to Westinghouse electrical gear, producing 1000 horsepower, or 60,405 pounds of tractive effort. It was found that the single exhaust stack tended to create back pressure, and as a result, tended to overheat. The CB&Q (and other railroads) solved this problem by installing four stacks on many of its VO-1000's, resulting in a noisier locomotive. Some railroads went so far as to add eight exhaust stacks, a practice Baldwin called, "hot-rodding". |