A great catalog of parts for Baldwin locomotives dated 1906.



https://archive.org/details/baldwinloco ... ocomotives

I have a reprint of the Lima shay catalog, that indexes parts by exotic names as well. How, exactly, was this more efficient than just part numbers?

As I understand it the code words had nothing to do with efficiency but rather to do with telegraph company charges. Messages were charged by the word so if you contacted Baldwin and said: "I need one zeboplex" that is four words. I think the use of code words was band because it was costing the telegraph companies so much money.