Footloose and the Baldwin Locomotive Works

Footloose, Its a classic! Starring Kevin Bacon (who also had a role in another movie we covered, End of the Line) and Lori Singer, this classic tale of a Chicago boy who moves to a small, fictional Rocky Mountain Town of Bomont, where Rock ‘n Roll has been banned by the local minister. During one of the scenes, the characters played by Bacon and Singer, are in a train yard, and Singer’s character, Ariel, stands in front of a moving train, and is almost hit when Bacon’s character, Ren, pushes her out of the way. The location of the film where this scene was shot is the Geneva Steel Mill of United States Steel, in Geneva, Utah.

The locomotive in Footloose is a Rare Locomotive Indeed

The locomotive that is seen approaching Ariel as she is standing on the tracks is Geneva Steel Baldwin DS-4-4-1000 #38 (The DS-4-4-1000 is commonly mistaken for an S12). She was built by the Baldwin Locomotive works in the Philadelphia suburb of Eddystone, PA in March 1949. Carrying Builders #73958, she was built for the Ore Hauling, Western Pennsylvania railroad Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad as B&LE #282. This particular locomotive was built with the Baldwin VO606NC prime mover. It is also interesting to note that she was also the ONLY DS-4-4-1000 locomotive built for the B&LE. She worked the ore docks on Lake Erie for the majority of her career on the B&LE. Being a Baldwin, she had astonishing pulling and lugging capabilities, like all Baldwin diesels are known for, however, unlike most Baldwins, she did not suffer from major Mechanical failures, like most Baldwin diesels did. She lasted on the B&LE for 20 years, when she was retired in May of 1969. Later that year, the locomotive was sold to United States Steel, the owner of the B&LE. She was subsequently shipped out to Utah, home of the Geneva Steel Mill. There, she worked for the plant, pulling cars full of molten steel, shoving Gondolas full of steel coils, covered hoppers full of stone,  and Hoppers full of Iron Ore, coal and coke, all products necessary in the production of Steel. Here, she toiled endlessly, until the mill shut down in the 1990’s. This is where her story ends. When the mill was torn down, and redeveloped into the town of Vineyard, UT, the locomotive suffered the same fate of the mill. She was cut up for scrap.

Geneva Steel #38 in the process of being scrapped.

Here is a photo of the #38 when in service for the Mill:                                                               http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2748661

This was the typical fate of Baldwin locomotives. Unlike EMD locomotives, that have been born, and re-born, and re-born, and so on, locomotives from other builders, Like ALCo, Baldwin, Lima, GE, and Hamilton, all tend to get the torch instead of being reborn. However, There are survivors from each builder that work in the United States. There is well over 2000 GE’s,  600 ALCo’s, 30 Baldwin’s and only 1 Lima, that have found homes on other Railroads. It should be noted that most of the 2000 GE locomotives should not even be on this list of operating survivors that were retired from the American railroads, as 90% of them have been sold for use in South America. If you would like to see an operating Baldwin VO 4-4-1000 like the one in the movie we just discussed, head to the Pureland Industrial Park in Bridgeport, New Jersey, where SMS Lines currently holds title to the Largest fleet of Baldwin Locomotives.  Their roster includes 27 Baldwin locomotives, 3 EMD Locomotives, and 2 GE’s. I should note that not all the Baldwins are operational.

I hope you enjoyed this latest presentation of The CineTrains Project. As always, if you have any ideas that you would like me to research, just look up how to contact me in the “submitting ideas” tab under our banner. I am always looking for new ideas to research. Until the next time, HAPPY RAILFANNING!

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