Baldwin branches out

Baldwin Locomotive, located on Spring Garden Street in Philadelphia in the 1890s, was perhaps America's premier locomotive builder in that era. To say that Baldwin knew steam power was accurate. Suppose, in (let's say) 1895, management took to heart the experiments with horseless carriages, some of which were steam powered, and decided to use Baldwin's know-how to branch out into this nascent technology?

This was approximately the dawn of oil-fired steam systems, with marine applications beginning to make the transition. And at the time, kerosene was widely available, so there's no difficulty in securing fuel. Thus, let's assume Baldwin was able to engineer a relatively small kerosene-fired boiler to fit within the confines of a carriage body. Then, it should be no difficulty to scale down the compound expansion technology used on railroads to get the most economy out of steam without resorting to a condenser--and fit one or two compound expansion engines (really just the cylinder, valve train including reversing valve, piston and the equivalent of the side rods) under that same carriage.

Now you have the motive technology provided by Baldwin ready to be mated to the product of any of a number of carriage builders. Suppose the deal had been consummated and Baldwin entered the horseless carriage field in 1895? How would that have affected the development of the steam automobile in particular and automobiles in general?
 

Driftless

Donor
Or in a bold move, have Baldwin jump the metaphorical rails and develop steam powered trucks - big enough to carry freight. Intra-city delivery, and perhaps some kind of truck to deliver from RR station to local destination.
 
Consider this: roads in the US were nearly 100% unpaved at any significant distance from any sizable population center; the horseless carriage at the time was pretty much a creature of cities and large towns. Thus, until the 1916 coast-to-coast Army expedition and/or the proposal of the Lincoln Highway, I don't think trucks for intercity freight would happen.

And even then, why would Baldwin look to commit suicide slowly by undercutting their raison d'etre, the steam locomotive? Building steam trucks for local freight movements (e.g., from depots/freight stations to warehouses), I could see: that would give Baldwin the possibility to dominate freight vehicle manufacture: raw materials move in bulk behind Baldwin locomotives on the rails, as do manufactured goods from factories to freight stations; local distribution goes by way of Baldwin steam trucks.
 

Driftless

Donor
Consider this: roads in the US were nearly 100% unpaved at any significant distance from any sizable population center; the horseless carriage at the time was pretty much a creature of cities and large towns. Thus, until the 1916 coast-to-coast Army expedition and/or the proposal of the Lincoln Highway, I don't think trucks for intercity freight would happen.

And even then, why would Baldwin look to commit suicide slowly by undercutting their raison d'etre, the steam locomotive? Building steam trucks for local freight movements (e.g., from depots/freight stations to warehouses), I could see: that would give Baldwin the possibility to dominate freight vehicle manufacture: raw materials move in bulk behind Baldwin locomotives on the rails, as do manufactured goods from factories to freight stations; local distribution goes by way of Baldwin steam trucks.

When I put Intra-city, I mean as delivery within a large city on paved streets. Local delivery from warehouse to retail.

You are absolutely correct about the limitations of Inter-city roadways, plus the notion of Baldwin short-circuiting their own bread-and-butter deal with the railways. By offering an early (1900-1920) line of sturdy, economical local delivery trucks to haul from RR station to warehouse, or RR station to retail store, Baldwin could have had a decisive competitive advantage on the commercial transportation universe in the US. The railroads themselves likely would be the primary buyer of the trucks - door to door service.
 
Sorry; I misread your initial post. Looks to me like we're entirely on the same page.

Think of that: an enterprise initially in the Northern Liberties of Philadelphia (later in Essington--that's in Delaware County, PA, a handful of miles south of Philly on the Delaware River) pretty much providing the entire means of movement of goods from raw materials to the retail market in many locations.

OK, the PRR will still have its formidable Juniata shops and there will still be other builders, but none would likely have the integration of Baldwin. A thought: would Baldwin become a target of trust-busting by TR and/or Taft?
 
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