it has the date 1924. but it doesn't have a number in front as other plaques. DESIGNER AND ERECTION is added to locomotive work.

It may be an extra order plate.

This is off an 0-8-0 according to the class number on the back. This is not an extra order plate as it has no construction number on the front.
Martin

but, any idea what it could be? it is old, it is not fake, it is not a ad sign.

I'm far from an expert on builder's plates, but the wording is odd from what I've seen before. Could it be for something that isn't a locomotive?

My speculation is that it is from a water tank or a water spout. Steel hardware built to support steam locomotive operations that needed to be erected on site.

That might just be it. The FIdeCA had a couple of Baldwin Weed Destroyers, and it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to find something like that in Cuba.

In addition to locos, Baldwin Locomotive Works produced a wide variety of industrial products. During the First World War, BLW manufactured huge railway cannons, and during both World Wars constructed other war materiel for use by the U.S. military and export to our allies. BLW also built heavy industrial machinery, pre-fab structures, sub-chaser ships and all sorts of large presses, pumps and machines for industry. Baldwin even produced the U.S. Army's Atomic Cannon that fired artillery shells armed with small atomic bombs, which were tested in the New Mexico desert with live U.S. Army soldiers to determine radioactive fallout levels.

I have not yet been able to determine what sort of machine or structure once carried this interesting 1924 BLW plate, but I am leaning toward some sort of machine or structure used by Cuba’s then-blooming iron ore industry after the 1920 collapse of the Cuban sugar industry. I'd sure love to know what this plate is all about. Thank you and Be Safe.
John B.

Baldwin did not build the Naval guns themselves; they came from USN inventory of replacement guns for USN's then-latest battleships. Baldwin built the railroad component of the gun mounts.

The guns themselves were 14"/50 calibre. The caibre is not the same as in light arms. In a battleship gun, the calibre is the ratio between the tube length and inside diameter. A 14"/50 gun has a tube 700 inches long. Range was 24 miles. The guns wore as they were fired and the liner would need replaced. The ship went to a Navy Yard, the old gun was lifted out and a new or replacement gun went in. The old gun went to a USN gun shop.

The gun car had four 6-wheel trucks. Here's Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14-inch/5 ... ailway_gun

Phil Mulligan