Hi All,

After being able to review the Smithsonian Baldwin Engine Registers microfilms I have some questions about the order they were done and other things.

First, there were page overlaps (some large) of the Locos Made books in a couple or more instances of pages that also involved different reels. It appears all construction numbers are covered but this was puzzling.

Books of Orders might follow books of Locos Made from a totally different time frame. It also appears Order books only cover from 1870-1900. Were the remaining books not available?

I attached an Excel workbook with sheets for Locos Made & Locos Ordered that extracted from the microfilm reels.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Blessings to all!

Allen Stanley

I can't speak to the Baldwin records but I have seen a lot of microfilm. The quality varies wildly. In many cases it was done by low wage workers with little training past shot, turn page, shoot. Most likely the Baldwin books were copied in the order they were on the shelf with no consideration as to proper order. Just be glad they were copied.

Thanks John,

If I had remembered to read things in my own files I would have found the answer there. As you surmised they were in boxes and apparently scanned as they came out.

They were scanned by K&E which is a pretty reputable professional firm. Over all the quality is acceptable. And yes, I am very thankful the were microfilmed. Wish I could find similar records for other builders.

Thanks for the input.

Allen Stanley