It’s most likely September or October 1968 in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, where recently purchased Baldwin RF-16A No. 1209 sits in the Monongahela Railway facility. The 1209 was built for the New York Central in December 1951 and initially had roster number 3809.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
The original slide of this image has a greenish-orange cast to it. This is the first time I have been able to get that cast mostly out of the image. Maybe the off-color look was due to a processing problem. Nonetheless what we have are a pair of “sharks,” Monongahela 1216 and Monongahela 1205 in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in May 1974.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Additional information about the movement of a rare Baldwin Sharknose locomotive in Michigan has surfaced and it’s not what many railfans were hoping it would be.
The president of the Escanaba & Lake Superior told Trains magazine that the RF16 was moved to free space in a shop building that will be used to clean covered hopper cars.
Former Delaware & Hudson No. 1216 was moved from a car shop in Escanaba to another shop in Wells earlier this week.
E&LS President John Larkin said he would like to restore the 1216 someday but said it would be a tough project to do.
The 1216 last operated in 1982 when it suffered a broken crankshaft. It and fellow Shark No. 1205 have been stored indoors since then.
The article can be read on the Trains website at: https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/baldwin-sharknose-moved-in-michigan/
A Baldwin RF-16 locomotive was moved out of its storage shed this week in Michigan, Railfan and Railroad magazine reported.
Social media reports indicated that former Delaware & Hudson No. 1216 was moved around a yard of the Escanaba & Lake Superior.
The magazine said it is unclear why the locomotive was moved.
The 1216 is one of two “Sharks” that have been stored in Michigan since the early 1980s. Also in storage is ex-D&H No. 1205.
The two units are the only survivors of the 160 locomotives of this type built by Baldwin.
Some of those “Shark’s” worked on the Monongahela Railroad in southwest Pennsylvania before being retired.
The article can be found at https://railfan.com/elusive-baldwin-shark-emerges-after-four-decades-in-storage/
It’s early 1969 in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. The Monongahela engine facility has two Baldwin switchers, including recently-purchased ex-New York Central 1210, a Baldwin RF16A. Also visible are small portions of two more Sharks.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Monongahela 1205 and 1216, the last two surviving Baldwin RF16A Sharks, rest in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, on July 1, 1972.
We’re in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, on the Monnogahela and taking a tour of the engine facility.
This may not look like a Monongahela locomotive because it has New York Central markings.
The former NYC unit, a Baldwin RF16A, is part of an A-B-A sharknose motive power set waiting in Brownsville on Sept. 21, 1968, to get back out on the road.
We’re at the engine facility at the Michigan Northern in Cadillac, Michigan, on June 14, 1978.
Unit 2037 is an ex-Southern Alco RS-3. Former Delaware & Hudson 1216 is a Baldwin RF16A sharknose locomotive.
The smoke billowing over No. 1216 is coming from from 2037. Ex-D&H 1205 is also a Baldwin RF 16A shark.
That was great news that the owner of Baldwin’s last two sharks says he will have them donated to a museum at his death. Here are a couple of shark photos.
In the top image it is late 1968 in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, where five ex-New York Central sharks plus several Baldwin switchers can be seen in the Monongahela engine facility.
The two units on the left, Nos. 1216 and 1205, are the survivors now being stored in Michigan.
In the bottom photograph it is June 13, 1977, and Delaware & Hudson Nos. 1205 and 1216 (the two survivors) are rounding a curve in Whitehall, New York.
The owner of a Michigan short line railroad plans to donate the only two surviving Baldwin RF-16 Sharknose diesel locomotives to a railroad museum.
John Larkin, owner of the Escanaba & Lake Superior Railroad, told Trains magazine he would donate the vintage locomotives to an unspecified museum after his death.
Larkin, 73, said during the interview he has not decided which museum would get the units, but he serves on the board of directors of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum and has assisted it with several restoration projects.
The two Sharknose locomotives are A units, Nos. Nos. 1205 and 1216, and have not operated in several years.
Both were bought in 1974 by the Delaware & Hudson and used in freight and passenger excursion service until late 1978.
The locomotives were later purchased by Illinois-based Castolite Corporation, which leased them to the Michigan Northern.
After the latter railroad ended operations Nos. 1205 and 1216 were moved to E&LS.
EL&S used No. 1216 for a short time in summer 1979.
It pulled a few trips in fall 1982 in Michigan between Wells and Channing but was sidelined when its crankshaft broke.
No. 1205 never operated on the EL&S due to mechanical issues.
Both sharknoses have been stored indoors and away from view of railfans.
Larkin told Trains that he also acquired Baldwin prime movers and other parts in the event the locomotives were ever restored.
But that never happened because it would cost too much. “But they are protected and out of the weather. They are inside so they are not further deteriorating,” he said.
Baldwin built 109 A units and 51 B-units between 1950 and 1953 for Baltimore & Ohio, New York Central, and the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1967 the Monongahela Railway purchased seven As and two Bs from NYC, and operated them into the 1970s.
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