November 1, 1943

"...the greatest steam locomotive program of all time."

"...the present rate of production will be multiplied three times by the end of 1944..."

I have a single page, torn from some other publication. Another free flea market find.

The companies listed in the corner, as they appear:
Locomotive & Ordnance Division; Baldwin Southwark Division; Cramp Brass & Iron Foundries Division; Standard Steel Works Division; Baldwin De La Vergne Sales Corp.; The Whitcomb Locomotive Co.; The Pelton Water Wheel Co.; The Midvale Co.

And little more than a half-decade and the greatest steam locomotive program of all time would be completely gone, and in little over a full decade all the locomotive building of any kind...

Maybe from an internal BLW publication? It apparently refers to the USATC Consolidations as pictured in the lower right corner. I don't have the exact number in front of me, but I believe BLW constructed somewhere around 1,000 locomotives of this design, including 12 that made their way to the Alaska Railroad and about 10 to Ft. Eustis. There were a couple at Camp Claiborne, but after the war they became two of the 12 Alaskan locomotives. All the others were exported. The total run from all three builders was 2,120.

The letter may be a bit late - by late 1943 BLW had already manufactured about 800 to this design.

Thanks for posting this. Do you mind if I post copies in a couple of places to share with the community that has an interest in ARR 557?

Dick,

Please feel free to post copies wherever you like.

The other side of the page has a date of November 5, 1943. There's half of an overall title, "The United...". It's the first page of an article, A Peace Formula Now, by David Lawrence. It's a political article discussing whether that time in 1943 was appropriate for setting up institutions to help avoid World War III. (Though certainly not our concept of WW3.) I'm thinking that this indicates that the ad was not from a Baldwin employees magazine.

-Mark

Mark, thanks.

I put a unique phrase from the letter into Google Books and it says it was published in Newsweek but only gives a snippet view. Google didn't give a date other than volume 22, issues 14-26, 1943, and didn't show it in any other publications.