Power type Diesel-electric Model RF-16 | Serial number 75316 and 75372 AAR wheel arr. B-B | |
Builder Baldwin Locomotive Works Build date December 1951 and January 1952 | ||
Delaware and Hudson locomotives 1205 and 1216 are the only surviving Baldwin Sharknoses. They have been stored out of service at the Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad since 1981.
Map of Delaware, USA
The locomotives were part of a fleet of 18 on the New York Central Railroad, and were originally numbered 3805 and 3816. The Central later gave them the numbers that they would retain for the rest of their career: 1205 and 1216.
After years of service on the New York Central, they were traded in to GE Transportation Systems, but instead of scrapping them, GE sold them to the Monongahela Railway for $6000 each, along with seven others. The Sharknoses hauled coal trains for the Monongahela between 1967 and 1972. By 1972, 1205 and 1216 were the only operable locomotives of the bunch, and the entire group was sold for scrap.
In 1974, the locomotives still had not been cut up, and the Delaware and Hudson Railway exchanged $12,000 of scrap boxcars for 1205 and 1216. The D&H used the locomotives in freight service until 1978.
In 1978 the pair was sold to the Castolite Corporation, a locomotive leasing firm. In 1979, they were leased to their final operator, the Michigan Northern Railway. It was not long before the 1205 suffered a crankshaft failure, and it was sent to be stored out of service at the Escanaba and Lake Superior. The 1216 continued to work until February 1982 before finally having mechanical failure and joining the 1205 in storage. The locomotives are indoors and out of view.