| Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad VO-1000 9352 (c/n 70103) at the Baldwin Eddystone, Pennsylvania plant around November 1943, print by H. L. Broadbelt, Chuck Zeiler collection. Number 9352 was retired May 1966, likely traded for new power. When approved by the War Production Board, the CB&Q received a total of 30 VO-1000's from Baldwin spanning eight orders, so the serial (construction) numbers were not consecutive, and 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. They featured an infinite "air throttle" or electro-pneumatic throttle system as Baldwin preferred to call it. An air valve controlled a resistor which in turn controlled the exciter and generator fields. This produced a "soft start", meaning that even if the throttle was yanked back, the air valve would slowly adjust the resistor to allow the fields to build up. The VO-1000's were concentrated in the Chicago and North Kansas City areas for most of their service life on the CB&Q. |