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Snake Island (Ukraine)

Snake Island, also known as Serpent Island, White Island, Island of Achilles or Zmiinyi Island (острів Змії́ний; Insula Șerpilor), is a Ukrainian island located in the Black Sea, near the Danube Delta, with an important role in delimiting Ukrainian territorial waters.

The island has been known since classical antiquity, and during that era hosted a Greek temple to Achilles. Today, it is administered as part of Izmail Raion of Ukraine's Odesa Oblast.

The island is populated, reported to have under 30 people in 2012. A village, Bile, was founded in February 2007 with the purpose of consolidating the status of the island as an inhabited place. This happened during the period in which the island was part of a border dispute between Romania and Ukraine from 2004 to 2009, during which Romania contested the technical definition of the island and borders around it. The territorial limits of the continental shelf around Snake Island were delineated by the International Court of Justice in 2009, providing Romania with almost 80% of the disputed maritime territory.

In the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, two Russian navy warships attacked and captured Snake Island. It was subsequently bombarded heavily by Ukraine and recaptured within a few months, following a Russian withdrawal.

Geography
Snake Island is located 35 km from the coast, east of the mouth of the Danube River. The island's coordinates are 45.25°N, 30.2°W. The island is X-shaped, 690 meters from S-W to N-E by 682 meters from N-W to S-E, covering an area of 0.205 km2. The highest area is 41 m above sea level. The island does not have a prominently featured mountain, but rather a low-slope hill.

The bedrock of the island consists of Silurian and Devonian sedimentary rocks, primarily metamorphosed, highly cemented quartzite conglomerate-breccias, with subordinate conglomerate, sandstone and clay, which form cliffs surrounding the island up to 25 metres high. The structural geology of the island is defined by a wavy monocline orientated to the northeast, with a small anticline in the eastern part of the island. The island is crisscrossed by faults with both N-S and NE-SW orientations.

The nearest coastal location to the island is Kubanskyi Island on the Ukrainian part of the Danube Delta, located 35 km away between the Bystroe Canal and Skhidnyi Channel. The closest Romanian coastal city, Sulina, is 45 km away. The closest Ukrainian city is Vylkove, 50 km; however, there also is a port Ust-Dunaisk, 44 km away from the island.

For the end of 2011 in Zmiinyi Island coastal waters, 58 fish species (12 of which are included into the Red Book of Ukraine) and six crab species were recorded. A presidential decree of 9 December 1998, Number 1341/98, declared the island and coastal waters as a state-protected area. The total protected area covers 232 ha.

The island was one of the last hauling-out sites in the basin for critically endangered Mediterranean monk seals until the 1950s.

Population and infrastructure
About 100 inhabitants live on the island's only settlement, Bile, mostly frontier guard servicemen with their families and technical personnel. In 2003, an initiative of the Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University established the Ostriv Zmiinyi marine research station every year, at which scientists and students from the university conduct research on local fauna, flora, geology, meteorology, atmospheric chemistry, and hydrobiology.

In accordance with a 1997 Treaty between Romania and Ukraine, the Ukrainian authorities withdrew an army radio division, demolished a military radar, and transferred all other infrastructure to civilians. Eventually, the Romania-Ukraine international relationships soured (see "Maritime delimitation" section) when Romania tried to assert that the island is no more than a rock in the sea. In February 2007, the Verkhovna Rada approved establishing a rural settlement as part of Vylkove city which is located some distance away at the mouth of the Danube.

In addition to a helicopter platform, in 2002 a pier was built for ships with up to 8 meter draught, and construction of a harbour is underway. The island is supplied with navigation equipment, including a 150-year-old lighthouse. Electric power is provided by a dual solar/diesel power station. The island also has civil infrastructure such as the marine research station, a post office, a bank (branch of the Ukrainian bank "Aval"), the first-aid station, a satellite television provider, a phone network, a cell phone tower, and an Internet link. Most of building structures are located either in the middle of the island by a lighthouse or the northeastern peninsula of the island by its pier.

The island lacks a fresh water source. Its border guard contingent is regularly resupplied by air. Since 2009 the development of the island was suspended due to financing which caused a great degree of concern of local authorities asking for more funding from the state.

Lighthouse
The Snake Island Lighthouse was built in the autumn of 1842 by the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Empire. The lighthouse is an octagonal-shaped building, 12 meters tall, located near the highest elevated area of the island, 40 meters above the sea level. The lighthouse built on site of the previously destroyed temple of Achilles is adjacent to a housing building. The remnants of the Greek temple were found in 1823.

As lighthouse technology progressed, in 1860 new lighthouse lamps were bought from England, and one of them was installed in the Lighthouse in 1862. In the early 1890s a new kerosene lamp was installed, with lamp rotating equipment and flat lenses. It improved the lighthouse visibility to 20 nmi. The lighthouse was either destroyed or damaged in the First World War (it is not clear which). It was subsequently rebuilt (see below).

The lighthouse was heavily damaged during World War II by Soviet aviation and German retreating forces. It was restored at the end of 1944 by the Odesa military radio detachment. In 1949 it was further reconstructed and equipped by the Black Sea Fleet. The lighthouse was further upgraded in 1975 and 1984. In 1988 a new radio beacon "KPM-300" was installed with radio signal range of 150 nmi.

In August 2004, the lighthouse was equipped with a radio beacon "Yantar-2M-200", which provides differential correction signal for global navigation satellite systems GPS and GLONASS.

The lighthouse is listed as UKR 050 by ARLHS, EU-182 by IOTA, and BS-07 by UIA.

Ancient history
The island was named by the Greeks Leuke (Λευκή, 'White Island') and was similarly known by Romans as Alba, probably because of the white marble formations that can be found on the isle. According to Dionysius Periegetes, it was called Leuke, because the serpents there were white. According to Arrian, it was called Leuke due to its color. He and Stephanus of Byzantium mentioned that the island was also referred to as the Island of Achilles (Ἀχιλλέως νῆσος and Ἀχίλλεια νῆσος ) and the Racecourse of Achilles (Δρόμον Ἀχιλλέως and Ἀχίλλειος δρόμος ), though this is now identified with the Tendra Spit.

The island was sacred to the hero Achilles and had a temple of the hero with a statue inside. Solinus wrote that on the island there was a sacred shrine. According to Arrian in the temple there were many offerings to Achilles and Patroclus. Furthermore, people came to the island and sacrificed or set animals free in honour of Achilles. He also added that people said that Achilles and Patroclus appeared in front of them as hallucinations or in their dreams while they were approaching the coast of the island or sailing a short distance from it. Pliny the Elder wrote that the tomb of the hero was on the island. According to the legend, on the island no bird flew higher than the temple of Achilles.

The uninhabited isle Achilleis ("of Achilles") was the major sanctuary of the hero, where "seabirds dipped their wings in water to sweep the temples clean", according to Constantine D. Kyriazis. Several temples of Thracian Apollo can be found here, and there are submerged ruins.

According to Greek myths the island was created by Poseidon for Achilles to inhabit, but also for sailors to have an island to anchor at the Euxine Sea, but the sailors should never sleep on the island. According to a surviving epitome of the lost Trojan War epic of Arctinus of Miletus, the remains of Achilles and Patroclus were brought to this island by Thetis, to be put in a sanctuary, furnishing the aition, or founding myth of the Hellenic cult of Achilles centred here. According to another myth Thetis gave the island to Achilles and let him live there. The oracle of Delphi sent Leonymus (other writers called him Autoleon ) to the Island, telling him that there Ajax the Great would appear to him and cure his wound. Leonymus said that on the island he saw Achilles, Ajax the Great, Ajax the Lesser, Patroclus, Antilochus and Helen of Troy. In addition, Helen told him to go to Stesichorus at Himera and tell him that the loss of his sight was caused by her wrath. Pomponius Mela wrote that Achilles was buried there.

In Andromache, work of Euripides, Thetis mention the island and said that Achilles was "dwelling on his island home".

Ruins believed to be of a square temple dedicated to Achilles, 30 meters to a side, were discovered by the Russian naval Captain N. D. Kritzkii in 1823, but the subsequent construction of a lighthouse on the very site obliterated all trace of it. Ovid, who was banished to Tomis, mentions the island, so do Ptolemy and Strabo. The island is described in Pliny the Elder's Natural History, IV.27.1. It is also described in Arrian's Letter to Emperor Hadrian, a historical document movingly drawn upon by Marguerite Yourcenar in her Memoirs of Hadrian.

Several ancient inscriptions were found on the island, including a 4th-century BC Olbiopolitan decree which praises someone for defeating and driving out the pirates that lived on the "holy island". Another inscription which found on the island and dates back to the fifth century BC writes: "Glaukos, son of Posideios, dedicated me to Achilles, lord of Leuke"

A fragment was found on the island which was signed by the famous ancient painter Epiktetos and the potter Nikosthenes.

The island was one of the three sites in the Black Sea which stand out in the cult of Achilles, the other two were the Racecourse of Achilles and the Pontic Olbia.

Ottoman era
The Greeks during the Ottoman Empire renamed it Fidonisi (Φιδονήσι, 'Snake Island') and the island gave its name to the naval Battle of Fidonisi, fought between the Ottoman and Russian fleets in 1788, during the course of the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792.

In 1829, following the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, the island became part of the Russian Empire until 1856.

In 1877, following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, the Ottoman Empire gave the island and Northern Dobruja region to Romania, as a reimbursement for the Russian annexation of Romania's Southern Bessarabia region.

World War I and interwar period
As part of the Romanian alliance with Russia, the Russians operated a wireless station on the island, which was destroyed on 25 June 1917 when it was bombarded by the Ottoman cruiser Midilli (built as SMS Breslau of the German Navy). The lighthouse (built by Marius Michel Pasha in 1860) was also damaged and possibly destroyed.

The 1920 Treaty of Versailles reconfirmed the island as part of Romania. The lighthouse was rebuilt in 1922.

World War II
The island, under Romanian control during the Second World War, was the location of a radio station used by the Axis forces, which turned it into a target for the Soviet Black Sea Fleet. The island's defences mainly consisted of several 122 mm and 76 mm anti-aircraft guns, captured from the Russians. The Romanian marine platoon defending the island was also equipped with two 45 mm coastal guns, two 37 mm anti-aircraft guns, and two anti-aircraft machine guns.

The first naval action took place on 23 June 1941, when the Soviet destroyer leader Kharkov together with the destroyers Bezposhchadny and Smyshlyonyi and several torpedo boats ran a patrol near the island, but found no Axis ships.

On 9 July 1941, the Soviet destroyer leader Tashkent together with four other destroyers (Bodry, Boiky, Bezuprechny, and Bezposhchadny) conducted a shipping sweep operation near the island, but did not make any contacts.

On 7 September 1941, two Soviet submarines of the Shchuka class (Shch-208 and Shch-213) and three of the M class (M-35, M-56, and M-62) conducted a patrol near the island.

On 29–30 October and 5 November 1942, the Romanian minelayers NMS Amiral Murgescu and Dacia, together with the Romanian destroyers NMS Regina Maria, NMS Regele Ferdinand, the Romanian flotilla leader NMS Mărăști, the Romanian gunboat Stihi and four German R boats laid two mine barrages around the island.

On 1 December 1942, while the Soviet cruiser Voroshilov together with the destroyer Soobrazitelny were bombarding the island with forty-six 180 mm and fifty-seven 100 mm shells, the cruiser was damaged by Romanian mines, but it managed to return to Poti for repairs under her own power. During the brief bombardment, she struck the radio station, barracks and lighthouse on the island, but failed to inflict significant losses.

On 11 December 1942, the Soviet submarine Shch-212 was sunk by a Romanian minefield near the island along with all of her crew of 44. The Soviet submarine M-31 was either sunk as well by the Romanian mine barrages near the island on 17 December, or sunk with depth charges by the Romanian flotilla leader Mărășești on 7 July 1943.

On 25 August 1943, two Romanian motorboats spotted a Soviet submarine near the island and attacked her with depth charges, but it managed to escape.

The Romanian marines were evacuated from the island and Soviet troops occupied it on 29–30 August 1944.

Post-WWII history
The Paris Peace Treaties of 1947 between the protagonists of World War II stipulated that Romania cede Northern Bukovina, the Hertsa region, Budjak, and Bessarabia to the Soviet Union, but made no mention of the mouths of the Danube and Snake Island.

Until 1948, Snake Island was a part of Romania. On 4 February 1948, during the delimitation of the frontier, Romania and the Soviet Union signed a protocol that left Snake Island and several islets on the Danube south of the 1917 Romanian-Russian border under Soviet administration. Romania disputed the validity of this protocol, since it was never ratified by either of the two countries; nevertheless it did not make any official claim on the territories.

The same year, in 1948, during the Cold War, a Soviet radar post was built on the isle (for both naval and anti-aircraft purposes).

The Soviet Union's possession of Snake Island was confirmed in the Treaty between the Government of the People's Republic of Romania and the Government of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics on the Romanian-Soviet State Border Regime, Collaboration and Mutual Assistance on Border Matters, signed in Bucharest on 27 February 1961.

Between 1967 and 1987, the USSR and Romanian side negotiated the delimitation of the continental shelf. The Romanian side refused to accept a Russian offer of 4000 km2 out of 6000 km2 around the island in 1987.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine inherited control over the island. A number of Romanian parties and organizations consistently claimed it should be included in its territory. According to the Romanian side, in the peace treaties of 1918 and 1920 (after World War I), the isle was considered part of Romania, and it was not mentioned in the 1947 border-changing treaty between Romania and the Soviet Union.

In 1997, Romania and Ukraine signed a treaty in which both states "reaffirm that the existing border between them is inviolable and therefore, they shall refrain, now and in future, from any attempt against the border, as well as from any demand, or act of, seizure and usurpation of part or all the territory of the Contracting Party". However, both sides have agreed that if no resolution on maritime borders can be reached within two years, then either side can go to the International Court of Justice to seek a final ruling.

In 2007, the island's only settlement Bile was founded.

In 2008, twelve Ukrainian border guards died when their helicopter flying from Odesa to Snake Island crashed, killing all but one on board.

Until 18 July 2020, the island belonged to Kiliia Raion. The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Odesa Oblast to seven. The area of Kiliia Raion was merged into Izmail Raion.

Russian invasion of Ukraine
Militarily, Snake Island, 35 km from the coast of Ukraine, is within the range of missile, artillery, and drone strikes from the shore, and exposed to attacks from all directions from air and sea, making any garrison "sitting ducks". It is a strategically significant island in the Black Sea, and Russian control over the island would allow a total blockade of the Ukrainian port city of Odesa.

On 24 February 2022, on the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, two Russian naval warships Vasily Bykov and Moskva, attacked Snake Island. Upon receiving a transmission from one of the Russian naval warships requesting surrender or else threatening bombardment, a Ukrainian border guard responded, "Russian warship, go fuck yourself." The response gained worldwide attention and became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. Later on the same day, Russian forces landed and captured the island.

Initially, the Ukrainian government erroneously reported that all 13 members of the garrison had died in the attack, and President Volodymyr Zelensky "posthumously" awarded the Hero of Ukraine, Ukraine's highest award, to the 13 defenders. The Ukrainian navy clarified later in February that the garrison were alive. On 29 March 2022, the Defence Ministry of Ukraine posted on Twitter that the author of the famous phrase had been freed from captivity and given a medal for bravery. The Ukrainian Postal Service in April 2022 issued a stamp showing a Ukrainian soldier showing the finger (an offensive gesture of defiance) to the Russian ship Moskva.

Ukrainian forces launched an operation to expel the Russians from Snake Island, targeting exposed Russian positions in an over four month-long campaign. Ukrainian military sources said they carried out attacks on both the island proper and on any Russian vessels bringing troops and weapons to it. New Western weapons supplies to Ukraine were key to turning the tide of the campaign in Ukraine's favor, especially the HIMARS rocket system.

In late June 2022, Russian forces withdrew from the island in what the BBC referred to as both symbolic and strategic victory for Ukraine. Ukrainian sources claimed the Russians fled in two speedboats after being unable to withstand Ukrainian strikes. Russia referred to the withdrawal as a "gesture of goodwill" after completing its military objectives on the island.

On 8 July 2023 president Zelensky visited the island to commemorate Ukrainian soldiers who defended it. On 13 July 2023 Russian forces dropped a single aerial bomb on the island.

Maritime delimitation
The status of Snake Island was important for delimitation of continental shelf and exclusive economic zones between Romania and Ukraine. If Snake Island were recognized as an island, then continental shelf around it should be considered as Ukrainian water. If Snake Island were not an island, but an islet, then in accordance with international law the maritime boundary between Romania and Ukraine should be drawn without taking into consideration the isle location.

On 4 July 2003, the President of Romania Ion Iliescu and the President of Russia Vladimir Putin signed a treaty about friendship and cooperation. Romania promised not to contest territories of Ukraine or Moldova, which it lost to the Soviet Union after World War II, but requested that Russia as a successor of the Soviet Union recognized in some form its responsibility for what had happened.

On 16 September 2004, the Romanian side brought a case against Ukraine to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a dispute concerning the maritime boundary between the two States in the Black Sea.

In 2007, Ukraine founded the small settlement of Bile on the island, which was criticized by Romania.

On 3 February 2009, the ICJ delivered its judgment, which divided the sea area of the Black Sea along a line which was between the claims of each country. The Court invoked the disproportionality test in adjudicating the dispute, noting that the ICJ, "as its jurisprudence has indicated, it may on occasion decide not to take account of very small islands or decide not to give them their full potential entitlement to maritime zones, should such an approach have a disproportionate effect on the delimitation line under consideration" and owing to a previous agreement between Ukraine and Romania, the island "should have no effect on the delimitation in this case, other than that stemming from the role of the 12-nautical-mile arc of its territorial sea" previously agreed between the parties.

General

 * Korrespondent.net: December 2003 report on Snake Island dispute, including aerial picture of the isle
 * Korrespondent.net: Maritime Delimitation as of August 2005
 * BBC Romanian report on the bank opening
 * Aurelian Teodorescu, "Snake Island: Between rule of law and rule of force": The Ostriv Zmiinyi dispute from the Romanian perspective
 * Constantine D. Kyriazis, Eternal Greece: Achilles' sanctuary
 * Nicolae Densușianu, Dacia Preistorică, 1913, I.4; Literary references to the island in Antiquity
 * Cotidianul: "OMV cauta petrol linga Insula Serpilor"
 * Olexandr Fomin, The history of Snake Island Lighthouse, Zerkalo Nedeli, 26 February 2000.
 * Civic Media, Ukraine and Romania in strategic war in the Black Sea, Civic Media, October 2007.
 * Civic Media, The natural right of Romania over the Serpent Island, Civic Media, October 2007.

title: Snake Island (Ukraine)


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Pound cake

Pound cake is a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. Pound cakes are generally baked in either a loaf pan or a Bundt mold. They are sometimes served either dusted with powdered sugar, lightly glazed, or with a coat of icing.

History
It is believed that the pound cake is of northern European origin and dates back to the early 18th century. A recipe for pound cake appears in The Art of Cookery by Hannah Glasse, published in 1747. The first U.S. cookbook, American Cookery, published in 1796, has a recipe for pound cake.

Over time, the ingredients for pound cake changed. Eliza Leslie, who wrote the 1851 edition of Direction for Cookery, used 10 eggs, beat them as lightly as possible, mixed them with a pound of flour, then added the juice of two lemons or three large oranges. This changed the flavor and texture of the cake. In the 2008 issue of Saveur, James Villas wrote that cake flour would not work in place of all-purpose flour because it lacks the strength to support the heavy batter.

An early variation on this cake replaced some of the flour with cornmeal made from dried corn (maize), which was then called Indian meal. A recipe for Indian pound cake was first published in 1828 by Eliza Leslie and later included in The Indian Meal Book, which was published in London in 1846, when people in Ireland were looking for alternatives to expensive wheat flour.

Variations
There are numerous variations on the traditional pound cake, with certain countries and regions having distinctive styles. These can include the addition of flavoring agents (such as vanilla extract or almond extract) or dried fruit (such as currants or dried cranberries), as well as alterations to the original recipe to change the characteristics of the resulting pound cake. For instance, baking soda or baking powder may be incorporated to induce leavening during baking, resulting in a less dense pound cake. A cooking oil (typically a vegetable oil) is sometimes substituted for some or all of the butter, which is intended to produce a moister cake. Sour cream pound cake is a popular variation in the United States, which involves the substitution of sour cream for some of the butter, which also is intended to produce a moister cake with a tangy flavor. Some of these variations may drastically change the texture and flavor of the pound cake, but the name pound cake is often still used. Some of the variations are described below.

French style
Pound cake is served in France. The name of the pound cake quatre-quarts, means four quarters. There are equal weights in each of the four quarters. In tradition, the popular cake of the French region of Brittany, as its name implies, uses the same quantity of the four ingredients, but with no added fruit of any kind. However, the Caribbean parts of the world that speak French traditionally add rum to the ingredients for Christmas Eve or even mashed bananas for extra moisture. In some cases, the French might have beaten egg whites instead of whole eggs to lighten the batter. Other variants include adding chocolate or lemon juice for flavor.

Mexican style
In Mexico, the pound cake is called panqué. The basic recipe of Mexican panqué is much like the traditional U.S. recipe. Most common variants are panqué con nueces (pound cake with walnuts) and panqué con pasas (pound cake with raisins).

Colombian style
Ponqué is the Colombian version of the pound cake: the term ponqué is itself a Spanish phonetic approximation of pound-cake. The ponqué is essentially a wine-drenched cake with a cream or sugar coating, and it is very popular at birthdays, weddings and other social celebrations.

German style
The German term Rührkuchen (stirred cake) refers to any kind of cake where a batter is made by mixing flour, butter, eggs, sugar, and often milk. The concept of the first four ingredients having equal proportions is not common, but, nevertheless, this style of cake batter forms the basis of many popular cake recipes. With the simple addition of nuts, cocoa, dried fruits and alcohols, and the use of different shapes and sizes of tins, a wide variety of traditional German cakes are made. For example, this dough or a minor variation of it is often used to make cakes made in a loaf tin (Orangenkuchen - orange cake; Nusskuchen - hazelnut cake), marbled cakes in a bundt tin (Marmorkuchen ) and other flavor combinations in shaped tins (Falscher Rehrücken - fake venison saddle with bitter chocolate and almonds, Osterlamm - Easter Lamb with vanilla and rum ). In the technical language of professional baking, these recipes are classified as Eischwerteig mit Fett ("egg-heavy batter with shortening"). For example, in a German cooks' vocational school book from the 1980s the basic recipe for such a cake baked in a 26 cm (10") spring form tin is given as four eggs, three egg-weights of butter, four egg-weights of sugar, three egg weights of flour and one egg-weight of starch. It is close to the English pound of each and the French four equal quarters.

Cherry cake
Cherry cake is a traditional British cake. The cake consists of glacé cherries evenly suspended within a Madeira sponge; it can also be considered as a basic or trivial variation of pound cake. Glacé cherries are used because the moisture within fresh cherries causes them to sink to the bottom of any cake, ruining the cake's form.

Cakes with cherries inside them are found in many other cuisines.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Pound cake


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Vincent K. Brooks

Vincent Keith Brooks (born October 24, 1958) is a retired United States Army general who last commanded United States Forces Korea, United Nations Command, and ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command. He previously served as the commanding general of United States Army Pacific and prior to that as the commanding general of Third Army. Brooks was the United States Central Command Deputy Director of Operations during the War in Iraq, and frequently briefed the media, which raised his public profile. He also served as the Chief of Army Public Affairs The Pentagon. He was the deputy commander of 1st Cavalry Division in Baghdad during the 2006–2008 "surge" and upon returning to the United States became the commanding general of the same division. He later was commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division. Brooks assumed command in Korea on April 30, 2016 and was succeeded by Robert B. Abrams in November 2018, then retired on January 1, 2019.

Family
Brooks was born in Anchorage, Alaska, on October 24, 1958. He grew up as an Army brat in a prominent military family in California. His father, Major General Leo A. Brooks Sr., and brother, Brigadier General Leo A. Brooks Jr., both retired after careers in the United States Army. His uncle, Francis K. Brooks, was the majority leader of the Vermont House of Representatives and a member of the Vermont Senate. Brooks attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Virginia for two years, and then Jesuit High School in Carmichael, California, where he graduated in 1976. He was a varsity basketball player, and decided to follow his brother to United States Military Academy at West Point to earn a commission as an officer.

Military service
At West Point, Brooks was the academy's first African-American First Captain, the highest position (Cadet Brigade Commander) a cadet can hold, an appointment which brought much public visibility at an early age in life. He graduated from West Point in 1980.

After graduating, Brooks served in South Korea and Kosovo among other places. In Kosovo, he concurrently served as the deputy commander of the U.S. force in Kosovo (Task Force Falcon) and as commander of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division based at Fort Stewart in Georgia. From that position he moved to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. While serving there he was temporarily assigned to be Deputy Director of Operations at United States Central Command (CENTCOM). Returning to the Pentagon and the Joint Staff in April 2003, he became the Lead Strategic Planner for the Global War on Terrorism working closely with the CIA, the Departments of State, Treasury and Justice, the FBI and the military's United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM).

In his role as Deputy Director of Operations, Brooks also became the spokesperson of CENTCOM, the main force in the Middle East. At that time he was the youngest general officer in the army.

From 2006 to 2008 Brooks served as the Deputy Commanding General of the 1st Cavalry Division, serving for fifteen months in Baghdad as second-in-command of the main effort (Multinational Division – Baghdad) stabilizing the Iraqi capital city and province during what is now called "The Surge." Upon return from Iraq, he took command of the 1st Cavalry Division until April 2008. Following an assignment as the Deputy Commanding General of the Army's III (Third) Corps at Fort Hood, Texas, he again took command of a combat unit, serving as the Commanding General of the historic 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley in Kansas from April 2009 to May 2011. He deployed the unit to Iraq for a year, serving as U.S. Division – South, responsible for securing the heavily Shi'ite areas of the southern half of the country. The headquarters was in Basra, Iraq. Following two years in a second division-level command, Brooks took command of U.S. Army Central and Third Army responsible for all U.S. Army operations throughout the Middle East and Central Asia (from Egypt to Kazakhstan). During this time, Brooks oversaw the reduction of forces in Iraq as well as the build up of forces in Afghanistan.

As the Commanding General of United States Army Pacific and as a part of the "Asia Pivot" of the Obama administration foreign policy, Brooks envisioned and executed the "Pacific Pathways" program. The program consists of a single United States Army unit that would move to different countries of the Asia and Pacific regions for up to three months at a time to develop first-hand understanding of the region. While initially criticized in some circles, the innovative approach has met high acclaim from the countries of the region and the units involved in the missions.

In March 2016, Brooks was nominated to command United States Forces Korea, the U.S.-South Korea Combined Forces Command, and United Nations Command, succeeding General Curtis Scaparrotti. He served until October 2018, and was succeeded by Robert B. Abrams. On November 4, 2016, Brooks was bestowed the Korean name Park Yu-jong by the ROK-US Alliance Friendship Association to show appreciation for his contributions to strengthening relations between the American and Korean armed forces. He also received a scroll and a taekwondo black belt and uniform inscribed with the moniker. Brooks retired on January 1, 2019, following the completion of his command assignment in Korea.

Retirement
After retiring from the U.S. military, Brooks has served as a director on multiple corporate boards, including Diamondback Energy and the project management and engineering firm Jacobs, which contracts heavily with the U.S. military. He is also a principal with WestExec Advisors, a consulting firm that helps "defense corporations market their products to the Pentagon and other agencies," according to the Project On Government Oversight.

Family

 * Father : Leo A. Brooks Sr. - Major General of the United States Army (retired)
 * Brother : Leo A. Brooks Jr. - Brigadier General of the United States Army (retired)
 * Uncle : Francis K. Brooks - the Vermont Senate (2017-2019)
 * Cousin : Mark C. Quander - Brigadier General of the United States Army

title: Vincent K. Brooks


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Baldwin Locomotive Works

Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railway locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it moved to nearby Eddystone in the early 20th century. The company was for decades the world's largest producer of steam locomotives, but struggled to compete when demand switched to diesel locomotives. Baldwin produced the last of its 70,000-plus locomotives in 1951, before merging with the Lima-Hamilton Corporation on September 11, 1951, to form the Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Corporation.

The company has no relation to the E.M. Baldwin and Sons of New South Wales, Australia, a builder of small diesel locomotives for sugar cane railroads.

Beginning
Matthias W. Baldwin, the founder, was a jeweler and whitesmith, who, in 1825, formed a partnership with machinist David H. Mason, and engaged in the manufacture of bookbinders' tools and cylinders for calico printing. Baldwin then designed and constructed for his own use a small stationary engine, the workmanship of which was so excellent and its efficiency so great that he was solicited to build others like it, and thus turned his attention to steam engineering. The original engine was in use and powered many departments of the works for well over 60 years, and is currently on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.

In 1831. Baldwin built a miniature locomotive for exhibition at the request of the Philadelphia Museum, which was such a success that he received that year an order from a railway company for a locomotive to run on a short line to the suburbs of Philadelphia. The Camden & Amboy Railroad (C&A) had shortly before imported a locomotive (John Bull) from England, which was stored in Bordentown, New Jersey. It had not yet been assembled by Isaac Dripps under the direction of C&A president Robert Stevens when Baldwin visited the spot. He inspected the detached parts and made notes of the principal dimensions. Aided by these figures, he commenced his task.

The difficulties attending the execution of this first order were such that they are not easily understood by present-day mechanics. Modern machine tools simply did not exist; the cylinders were bored by a chisel fixed in a block of wood and turned by hand; the workmen had to be taught how to do nearly all the work; and Baldwin himself did a great deal of it with his own hands.

It was under such circumstances that his first locomotive, christened Old Ironsides, was completed and tried on the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad on November 23, 1832. It was at once put in active service, and did duty for over 20 years. It was a four-wheeled engine, weighing a little over five tons; the driving wheels were 54 in in diameter, and the cylinders were of 9+1/2 in bore by 18 in stroke. The wheels were of heavy cast iron hubs, with wooden spokes and rims, and wrought iron tires, and the frame was made of wood placed outside the wheels. It had a 30 in diameter boiler which took 20 minutes to raise steam. Top speed was 28 mph.

Early years
Baldwin struggled to survive the Panic of 1837. Production fell from 40 locomotives in 1837 to just nine in 1840 and the company was heavily in debt. As part of the survival strategy, Matthias Baldwin took on two partners, George Vail and George Hufty. Although the partnerships proved relatively short-lived, they helped Baldwin pull through the economic hard times.

Zerah Colburn was one of many engineers who had a close association with Baldwin Locomotive Works. Between 1854 (and the start of his weekly paper, the Railroad Advocate) and 1861, when Colburn went to work more or less permanently in London, England, the journalist was in frequent touch with M. W. Baldwin, as recorded in Zerah Colburn: The Spirit of Darkness. Colburn was full of praise for the quality of Baldwin's work.

In the 1850s, railroad building became a national obsession, with many new carriers starting up, particularly in the Midwest and South. While this helped drive up demand for Baldwin products, it also increased competition as more companies entered the locomotive production field.

Still, Baldwin had trouble keeping pace with orders and in the early 1850s began paying workers piece-rate pay. By 1857, the company turned out 66 locomotives and employed 600 men. But another economic downturn, this time the Panic of 1857, cut into business again. Output fell by 50 percent in 1858.

1860–1899
The Civil War at first appeared disastrous for Baldwin. According to John K. Brown in The Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831–1915: A Study in American Industrial Practice, at the start of the conflict Baldwin had a great dependence on Southern railways as its primary market. In 1860, nearly 80 percent of Baldwin's output went to carriers in states that would soon secede from the Union. As a result, Baldwin's production in 1861 fell more than 50 percent compared to the previous year. However, the loss in Southern sales was counterbalanced by purchases by the United States Military Railroads and the Pennsylvania Railroad, which saw its traffic soar, as Baldwin produced more than 100 engines for carriers during the 1861–1865 war.

By the time Matthias Baldwin died in 1866, his company was vying with Rogers Locomotive & Machine Works for the top spot among locomotive producers. By 1870 Baldwin had taken the lead and a decade later, it was producing 2$1/2$ times as many engines as its nearest competitor, according to the U.S. Manufacturing Census.

In 1897 the Baldwin Locomotive Works was presented as one of the examples of successful shop management in a series of articles by Horace Lucian Arnold. The article specifically described the Piece Rate System used in the shop management.

Burton (1899) commented, that "in the Baldwin Locomotive Works... piecework rates are seldom altered... Some rates have remained unchanged for the past twenty years, and a workman is there more highly esteemed when he can, by his own exertions and ability, increase his weekly earnings. He has an absolute incentive to increase his output as much as he possibly can, because he knows that he will not, by increasing his own income, lead to cutting piece-work rates, and so be forced to make still further exertions in order to maintain the same weekly wage."

History: 20th century

Initially, Baldwin built many more steam locomotives at its cramped 196 acre Broad Street Philadelphia shop but would begin an incremental shift in production to a 616 acre site located at Spring Street in nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in 1906. Broad Street was constricted, but even so, it was a huge complex, occupying the better part of 8 square city blocks from Broad to 18th Streets and Spring Garden Street to the Reading tracks just past Noble Street. Eddystone had a capacity of well over 3000 locomotives per year. The move from Broad Street was completed in the late 1920s.

Gilded age

The American railroad industry expanded significantly between 1898 and 1907, with domestic demand for locomotives hitting its highest point in 1905. Baldwin's business boomed during this period while it modernized its Broad Street facilities. Despite this boom, Baldwin faced many challenges, including the constraints of space in the Philadelphia facility, inflation, increased labor costs, Labor tensions, the substantial increase in the size of the locomotives being manufactured, and the formation of the American Locomotive Company, an aggressive competitor which eventually became known simply as Alco.

From 1904 to 1943, Baldwin and Westinghouse marketed Baldwin-Westinghouse electric locomotives and A.C. electrification of railroads, particularly to the New Haven Railroad.

In 1906 the Hepburn Act authorized greater governmental authority over railroad companies, and revitalized the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which stepped up its activities. The ICC was given the power to set maximum railroad rates, and to replace existing rates with "just-and-reasonable" maximum rates, as defined by the ICC.

The limitation on railroad rates depreciated the value of railroad securities, and meant that railroads stopped ordering new equipment, including locomotives. The Panic of 1907 in turn disrupted finance and investment in new plants. Both of these events had a direct negative effect on the railroad industry, especially the locomotive builders.

Baldwin's locomotive output dropped from 2,666 in 1906 to 614 in 1908. The company cut its workforce from 18,499 workers in 1907 to 4,600 the following year. Baldwin's business was further imperiled when William P. Henszey, one of Baldwin's partners, died. His death left Baldwin with a US$6 million liability. In response, Baldwin incorporated and released US$10 million worth of bonds. Samuel Vauclain wanted to use these funds to expand Baldwin's capacities so it would be prepared for another boom. While other Baldwin officers opposed this expansion, Vauclain's vision won out; Baldwin would continue to expand its Eddystone plant until its completion in 1928. By 1928, the company moved all locomotive production to this location, though the plant would never exceed more than one-third of its production capacity.

World War I
Baldwin was an important contributor to the Allied war effort in World War I. Baldwin built 5,551 locomotives for the Allies including separate designs for Russian, French, British and United States trench railways. Baldwin built railway gun carriages for the United States Navy and manufactured 6,565,355 artillery shells for Russia, Great Britain and the United States. From 1915 to 1918, Remington Arms subcontracted the production of nearly 2 million Pattern 1914 Enfield and M1917 Enfield rifles to the Baldwin Locomotive Works. Baldwin expanded its Eddystone, Pennsylvania works into the Eddystone Arsenal, which manufactured most of these rifles and artillery shells before being converted to locomotive shops when the war ended.

Following the war Baldwin continued to supply export orders, as the European powers strove to replace large numbers of locomotives either worn out or destroyed during the war, as European locomotive factories were still re-tooling from armaments production back to railroad production. In 1919 and 1920 Baldwin supplied 50 4-6-0 locomotives to the Palestine Military Railway that became the Palestine Railways H class.

Decline

After the boom years of World War I and its aftermath, Baldwin's business would decline as the Great Depression gripped the country and diesel locomotives became the growth market on American railways towards the end of the 1930s. During the 1920s the major locomotive manufacturers had strong incentives to maintain the dominance of the steam engine. The Baldwin-Westinghouse consortium, which had produced electric locomotives since 1904, was in fact the first American locomotive builder to develop a road diesel locomotive, in 1925. Its twin-engine design was not successful, and the unit was scrapped after a short testing and demonstration period. Westinghouse and Baldwin collaborated again in 1929 to build switching and road locomotives (the latter through Baldwin's subsidiary Canadian Locomotive Company). The road locomotives, Canadian National class V1-a, No. 9000 and No. 9001, proved expensive, unreliable, frequently out of service, and were soon retired. Westinghouse cancelled its efforts in the diesel locomotive field with the onset of the Great Depression, opting to supply electrical parts instead. The early, unsuccessful efforts of Baldwin-Westinghouse in developing diesel-electric locomotion for mainline service led Baldwin in the 1930s to discount the possibility that diesel could replace steam. In 1930 Samuel Vauclain, chairman of the board, stated in a speech that advances in steam technology would ensure the dominance of the steam engine until at least 1980. Baldwin's vice president and Director of Sales stated in December 1937 that "Some time in the future, when all this is reviewed, it will be found that our railroads are no more dieselized than they electrified". Baldwin had deep roots in the steam locomotive industry and may have been influenced by heavy investment in its Eddystone plant, which had left them overextended financially and operating at a fraction of capacity as the market for steam locomotives declined in the 1930s.

In contrast, ALCO, while remaining committed to steam production, pursued R&D paths centered on both steam mainline engines and diesel switch engines in the 1920s and '30s, which would position them to compete in the future market for diesel locomotives.

In 1928 Baldwin began an attempt to diversify its product line to include small internal combustion-electric locomotives but the Great Depression thwarted these efforts, eventually leading Baldwin to declare bankruptcy in 1935. At the invitation of the owners of the Geo D. Whitcomb Company, a small manufacturer of gasoline and diesel industrial locomotives in Rochelle, Illinois, Baldwin agreed to participate in a recapitalization program, purchasing about half of the issued stock. By March 1931 the small firm was in financial trouble and Baldwin filed a voluntary bankruptcy for Whitcomb with Baldwin gaining complete control and creating a new subsidiary, the Whitcomb Locomotive Company. This action would lead to financial losses, an ugly court battle between Baldwin and William Whitcomb, the former owner of the company, and bankruptcy for both parties.

Baldwin lost its dominant position in electric locomotives when the Pennsylvania Railroad selected General Electric's design for what became its GG1 class instead of Baldwin's design in 1934.

When Baldwin emerged from bankruptcy in 1938 it underwent a drastic change in management, which revived the company's development efforts with diesel power, but it was already too far behind. In 1939 Baldwin offered its first standard line of diesel locomotives, all designed for yard service. By this time, Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC) was already ramping up production of diesel passenger locomotives and developing its first diesel road freight locomotive.

As the 1930s drew to a close, Baldwin's coal-country customers such as Pennsylvania Railroad, Chesapeake & Ohio, and Norfolk & Western, were more reluctant than other operators to embrace a technology which could undermine the demand for one of their main hauling markets. All three continued to acquire passenger steam locomotives into the early postwar years, as dieselization was gaining momentum elsewhere in the rail industry.

In the late 1930s Baldwin and the Pennsylvania Railroad made an all-in bet on the future of steam in passenger rail service with Baldwin's duplex-drive S1 locomotive. It proved difficult to operate, prone to slipping, costly to maintain, and unsuited for its intended service. Baldwin developed a revision of the same basic design with the T1, introduced in 1943. While the T1s could operate on more tracks than the S1, they still had many of the problems of the S1, and additional mechanical problems related to their unique valve design. The whole S1-T1 venture resulted in losses for PRR and investment in a dead-end development effort for Baldwin at a critical time for both companies. In the early 1940s Baldwin embarked upon its efforts to develop steam turbine power, producing the S2 direct-drive turbine locomotive in 1944. Baldwin's steam turbine program failed to produce a single successful design. Baldwin's steam-centered development path had left them flat-footed in the efforts necessary to compete in the postwar diesel market dominated by EMC and Alco-GE.

World War II

The United States' entry into World War II impeded Baldwin's diesel development program when the War Production Board dictated that Alco and Baldwin produce only steamers and diesel-electric yard switching engines. The General Motors Electro-Motive Corporation was assigned the task of producing road freight diesels (namely, the FT series). EMC's distinct advantage over its competitors in that product line in the years that followed World War II, due to the head start in diesel R&D and production, is beyond doubt, however, assigning it solely to WPB directives is questionable. Longtime GM chairman Alfred Sloan presented a timeline in his memoir that belies this assumption, saying that GM's diesel-engine R&D efforts of the 1920s and 1930s, and its application of model design standardization (yielding lower unit costs) and marketing lessons learned in the automotive industry, were the principal reason for EMC's competitive advantage in the late 1940s and afterward (clearly implying that the wartime production assignments were merely nails in a coffin that Baldwin and Lima had already built for themselves before the war). In his telling, the R&D needed to adapt earlier diesels (best suited to marine and stationary use) to locomotive use (more flexible output; higher power-to-weight ratio; more reliable given more vibration and less maintenance) was a capital-intensive project that almost no one among the railroad owners or locomotive builders was willing (latter) or able (former) to invest in during the 1920s and 1930s except for the GM Research Corporation led by Charles Kettering, and the GM subsidiaries Winton Engine Corporation and Electro-Motive Corporation.

Baldwin made steam engines for domestic US railroads, the US Army, British railways, and made around one thousand E or Ye type engines for the Soviet Union in the Lend Lease arrangement (of an order of 2000 or so engines with other builders contributing to the total). Baldwin obtained a short-term market boost from naval demand for diesel engines and the petroleum crisis of 1942–43, which boosted demand for their coal-fired steam locomotives while acquisition of EMD's diesel locomotives was in its most restricted period.

In 1943 Baldwin launched its belated road diesel program, producing a prototype "Centipede" locomotive which was later rebuilt to introduce their first major product in the postwar market.

During World War II Baldwin's contributions to the war effort included not only locomotives and switchers but also tanks. Baldwin was one of the manufacturers of several variants of the M3 tank (M3 Lee, M3A2, M3A3, M3A5) and later the M4 Sherman (M4, M4A2). A Baldwin subsidiary, the Whitcomb Locomotive Company, produced hundreds of 65-ton diesel electric locomotives for the Army and received the Army–Navy "E" award for production. Baldwin ranked 40th among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.

End

Between 1940 and 1948, domestic steam locomotive sales declined from 30 percent of the market to 2 percent. By 1949, there was no demand for steam locomotives. Baldwin's attempts to adapt to the changed market for road locomotives had been unsuccessful; the reliability of their offerings was unsatisfactory, epitomized by notorious failures such as its Centipede diesel locomotives and their steam turbine-electric locomotives, which proved to be money pits unsuited for their intended service. In July 1948 Westinghouse Electric, which had teamed with Baldwin to build diesel and electric locomotives and wanted to keep their main customer in the rail industry afloat, purchased 500,000 shares, or 21 percent, of Baldwin stock, which made Westinghouse Baldwin's largest shareholder. Baldwin used the money to cover various debts. Westinghouse vice president Marvin Smith became Baldwin's president in May 1949. In a move to diversify into the construction equipment market, Baldwin merged with Lima-Hamilton on December 4, 1950, to become Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton. However, Lima-Hamilton's locomotive technology was unused after the merger and market share continued to dwindle. By January, 1952 Baldwin closed its factory in Rochelle, Illinois and consolidated Whitcomb production at Eddystone. In 1953 Westinghouse discontinued building electrical traction equipment, so Baldwin was forced to reconfigure their drive systems based on General Electric equipment. In 1954, during which time they were being virtually shut out of the diesel market, Baldwin delivered one steam turbine-electric locomotive to the Norfolk & Western, which proved unsatisfactory in service.

The last batch of conventional steam locomotives built by BLH were WG class 9100-9149 as BLH 76039-76088 built in 1955 for the Indian Railways broad gauge.

After locomotive production ended, Hamilton continued to develop and produce engines for other purposes. Baldwin engine production was shifted to the Hamilton plant, but in 1960 the Hamilton engines ceased production, the plant was shuttered, and Baldwin engine production moved back to Eddystone. The last locomotives produced by Baldwin were three experimental RP-210 dual power passenger locomotives for the New York Central and New York, New Haven, & Hartford rail lines in 1956.

In 1956, after 125 years of continuous locomotive production, Baldwin closed most of its Eddystone plant and ceased producing locomotives. The company instead concentrated on production of heavy construction equipment. More than 70,500 locomotives had been built when production ended. In 1965 Baldwin became a wholly owned subsidiary of Armour & Company. Greyhound Corporation purchased Armour & Company in 1970, and the decision was made to liquidate all production. In 1972 Greyhound closed Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton for good. The replacement and renewal parts business was acquired by Ecolaire Inc and became the Baldwin-Hamilton Company - A Division of Ecolaire Inc. and lasted till 1991 to receive license fees from other companies using their designs, which was lucrative. When the licenses ran out, all remaining parts were distributed, and the company dissolved.

Later steam locomotives

Baldwin built many 4-4-0 "American" type locomotives (the locomotive that built America). Surviving examples of which include the 1872 Countess of Dufferin and 1875's Virginia & Truckee Railroad No.22 "Inyo", but it was perhaps best known for the 2-8-2 "Mikado" and 2-8-0 "Consolidation" types. It was also well known for the unique cab-forward 4-8-8-2 articulateds built for the Southern Pacific Company and massive 2-10-2 for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. Baldwin also produced their most powerful steam engines in history, the 2-8-8-4 "Yellowstone" for the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway. The Yellowstone could put down over 140000 lbf of Tractive force. They routinely hauled 180 car trains weighing over 18000 ST. The Yellowstones were so good that the DM&IR refused to part with them; they hauled ore trains well into the diesel era, and the last one retired in 1963. Three have been preserved. One of Baldwin's last new and improved locomotive designs were the 4-8-4 "Northern" locomotives. Baldwin's last domestic steam locomotives were 2-6-6-2s built for the Chesapeake & Ohio in 1949. Baldwin 60000, the company's 1926 demonstration steam locomotive, is on display at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. On a separate note, the restored and running 2-6-2 steam locomotive at Fort Edmonton Park was built by Baldwin in 1919.

Preserved Baldwin steam locomotives
There are many Baldwin built steam locomotives currently operating in the United States, Canada, and several other countries around the world. Out of all the Baldwin built steam locomotives that are operational or have operated in recent years, the most recognized locomotives are Reading 2101, Reading 2102, Grand Canyon Railway 4960, Frisco 1522, Frisco 1630, Nickel Plate Road 587, Blue Mountain and Reading 425, Western Maryland Scenic Railroad 734, Southern Pacific 2467, Southern Pacific 2472, Spokane, Portland and Seattle 700, Southern Railway 4501, the oldest surviving 4-8-4 Northern type steam locomotive, Santa Fe 3751, and the last domestic steam locomotive Baldwin built, Chesapeake and Ohio 1309.

In Australia, five of the twenty 59 class Baldwin 2-8-2s which entered service in 1952/53 survive.

Pampanga Sugar Development Company (PASUDECO) No. 2 is in static display as the Riverland Express at Riverbanks Center mall in Marikina, Philippines as of October 2022. It is a 2-6-0 built in 1928 by Baldwin and is one of the few surviving tender locomotives in Luzon.

Narrow-gauge and unconventional
Baldwin built locomotives for narrow-gauge railways as well. Some of the more notable series built for the Denver & Rio Grande Western were outside-framed 2-8-2 "Mikados": Fifteen class K-27's, originally built as Vauclain compounds in 1903, ten class K-36's built in 1925, and ten class K-37's originally built as standard-gauge 2-8-0s in 1902 but rebuilt for narrow gauge in the D&RGW shops in 1928. Several of all these classes survive, and most are operating today on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.

New Zealand Railways (NZR) was a major customer from 1879 when it imported six T class based on the Denver & Rio Grande locomotives due to their similar rail gauge. The next was a double emergency order of six N class and six O class after a British order for similar locomotives failed to meet on-time delivery and weight limitations specified in contract. Baldwins seized on the opportunity to impress the NZR with a prompt six-month delivery of all 12 locomotives. Thereafter NZR ordered Baldwin products to complement home built locomotives, including Wb class and Wd class. Another four of the N class were purchased in 1901. The Ub class class of 22 locomotives consisting of 10 1898 flat valve and 10 1901 piston valve (Baldwins supplying all but two) proved themselves well at the turn of the 20th century with the last retiring as late as 1958. A requirement for a larger firebox version of the class ended up creating a whole new locomotive with the birth of the 4-6-2 wheel arrangement, the Pacific was born. They were classed as Q class and remained in use until 1957. Being a new type of locomotive, the Q class had their shortcomings but eventually performed well. In 1914 a later larger improved version, and last Baldwin product to be purchased by NZR was the Aa class. They lasted until 1959. Like all American locomotives produced at the time, the Baldwins had 'short' lifespans built into them but the NZR were happy to re-boiler almost their whole fleet to give them a longer life of hard work. NZR were generally happy with their Baldwin fleet. A private Railway operating in New Zealand at the time exclusively purchased Baldwin products after facing the same difficulties with British builders the NZR had. The Wellington & Manawatu Railway (1881–1909) operated small fleets of 2-8-0 (4), 2-6-2 (6), 2-8-2 (1), 4-6-0 (2) and a large 2-8-4 (1) tank locomotive. When the NZR took over the railway, its fleet was absorbed into sub-classes of those operating already in the main fleet. When NZR placed tenders for diesel locomotives in the 1950s, Baldwins applied but failed when EMD won the contract instead. Surprisingly only one NZR Baldwin product was operational, a class Wd 2-6-4 tank locomotive operated at the Ferrymead railway in Christchurch until it was taken out of service for repairs, the remains of a WMR 2-6-2 N, NZR 4-6-0 Ub, and two NZR 2-6-2 Wb tank locomotives and one Wd tank locomotive are in the early stages of restoration. Another steam locomotive that is preserved is a steam dummy, built for Sydney Tramways, in 1891, and preserved in operational condition, at Auckland's Museum of Transport & Technology.

A six-ton, 60-cm gauge 4-4-0 built for the Tacubaya Railroad in 1897 was the smallest ever built by Baldwin for commercial use.

In the late 1890s, many British builders were recovering from an engineers' strike over working hours, leaving backlogs of orders yet to be fulfilled. This prompted British railways that were in immediate need for additional motive power to turn to Baldwin and other US builders. Examples of engines built in response include three batches of 2-6-0 tender engines for the Midland Railway, Great Central Railway, and Great Northern Railway, respectively, as well as the Lyn, a 2-4-2T (tank locomotive) for the 1 ft gauge Lynton & Barnstaple Railway in England in 1898. The Cape Government Railways of South Africa also bought engines from Baldwin as a result of the strikes. Unfortunately, many of these engines were unpopular with the crews due to their designs being atypical, and many, including all of those built for the three standard gauge British railways and the Lynton and Barnstaple's Lyn, were scrapped when no longer needed. A replica of the latter locomotive has been constructed for the revived Lynton & Barnstaple Railway.

Also during the late 1890s, two 2-6-2T tank engines N A class were built for the Victorian Railways (VR). They were used as a trial on the new narrow-gauge railways. Fifteen more were built by the VR. Both were scrapped.

To supply troops in France, 495 4-6-0PTs were built to the order of the British War Department in 1916/7. After the war surplus locomotives were sold, finding new uses in France, Britain and India.

In Britain examples were used on the Ashover Light Railway, Glyn Valley Tramway, Snailbeach District Railways and the Welsh Highland Railway.

The Welsh Highland Railway in Wales bought No 590, in 1923. It was apparently unpopular with crews although photographs show that it was used regularly until the railway was closed. It was scrapped in 1941 when the derelict railway's assets were requisitioned for the war effort. Some of the surviving examples in India have since been imported to the UK, one of which by the Welsh Highland Railway Ltd. who has restored it to represent the scrapped 590. Other Baldwin 4-6-0PT's imported from India include one owned by the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway based Greensand Railway Trust that has been restored to working order, as well as two acquired by the Statfold Barn Railway in March 2013.

Baldwin also built six engines for the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, three of which were delivered in 1890, with the fourth being delivered in 1897. These engines featured steeply inclined boilers and used the Abt rack system to propel them up the average 16 percent grade. The last Baldwin engine was taken out of regular service in 1955. During the following years the engines were used as back-up engines and for snow removal. Three of the engines are currently on static display around Colorado. One (No. 1) is located at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, Colorado. The other two on display are located in Manitou Springs, Colorado: one (No. 2) near city hall and the other (No. 5) at the Pikes Peak Cog Railway depot. The engine No. 4 is still in limited operation for photo opportunities and special events. However, it no longer completes the journey to the top of Pikes Peak due to the fact that many of the water tanks along the line have been removed. Engines No. 3 and No. 6 were scrapped and used for parts over the years.

Number 6 (builder plate number 12288), a 36" 2-6-0 was built by Baldwin in 1891 for the Surry Sussex & Southampton Railway in Virginia. The SS&S installed Southern valve gear, a graceful outside drive gear. The 6 was eventually sold to the Argent Lumber Company in South Carolina. In 1960, the 6 was purchased by southeastern Iowa's Midwest Central Railroad as part of a package deal including the 2 (below). It was the first locomotive to operate on a regular basis at the MCRR and was their main engine until 1971 when it was taken out of service for a major overhaul. Completed in 1988, this ground up rebuild included a new boiler and conversion to oil fire. A "medium" boiler repair was started in 2009, with the work completed in September 2010, in time for the 2010 Midwest Old Thresher's Reunion.

The Midwest Central Railroad also owns Number 2, a 36" 2-6-0, which was built for the New Berlin & Winfield Railroad in 1906. The NB&W operated an 8 mi line in Pennsylvania for an agricultural community. The two hauled freight and passengers on this small operation until the mid-1910s. In 1917, the locomotive was sold to the Argent Lumber Company in South Carolina where it worked along with the 6 in swamp trackage, hauling logs to the mill in Hardeeville. Upon arrival at the MCRR in 1960, it received substantial repairs and was put into service by the early 1970s, replacing number 6 as the MCRR's main engine. In 1987, number 2 was taken out of service for a complete rebuild which is still in progress as of January 2011.

The Walt Disney World Railroad (WDWRR), which runs around the Magic Kingdom in Florida, has four operational Baldwin locomotives: a 1916 Class 8-C 4-4-0 No. 4 (The Roy O. Disney), twin locomotives Nos. 1 and 3, both 1925 Class 10-D 4-6-0 designs (The Walter E. Disney and the Roger E. Broggie, respectively), and a 1928 Class 8-D 2-6-0 No. 2 (The Lilly Belle). They all originally worked on the Ferrocarriles Unidos de Yucatán (UdeY), a railroad that operated in the state of Yucatán in Mexico. In the late 1960s, they were all purchased by Disney imagineers Roger Broggie and Earl Vilmer for $8,000 each and rebuilt to operating condition, while significantly altered from their original appearance to resemble steam locomotives from the 1880s. Three other operational Disney-owned Baldwin locomotives (No. 3 Fred Gurley, No. 4 Ernest S. Marsh, and No. 5 Ward Kimball) operate on the Disneyland Railroad, where they run around Disneyland in California alongside two additional locomotives built by WED Enterprises.

Baldwin also built many boilers and stationary steam engines for heating and powering buildings and industry.

Street railways and tramway steam motors
As well as railway locomotives, Baldwin built street tramway steam motors in large numbers for operators in the United States and worldwide. There were three basic models, with 9-inch, 11-inch and 13-inch motors, the sizes being determined by the cylinder size rather than the boiler capacity. These were largely superseded by electric tramcars, but some were built and operated well into the 20th century for systems that were never electrified. There were well over 100 built for the New South Wales Government Tramways in Sydney, Australia from 1879 to 1910. Mostly 11" and 0-4-0 in configuration.

Two operational NSWGT surviving steam motors:
 * Baldwin 11676 of 1891 NSWGT No. 103 Valley Heights Locomotive Depot Heritage Museum, New South Wales, Australia.
 * Baldwin 11665 of 1891 NSWGT No. 100 Museum of Transport & Technology, Auckland, NZ. No.100 was latterly used in Wanganui, New Zealand 1910–1950.

Other Baldwin steam motor operators included:
 * The Takapuna Tramways and Ferry Company, Auckland, New Zealand 1910–1927. Route was from Bayswater to Milford via Takapuna and Lake Pupuke. No surviving locomotives.

Electric locomotives
From the early years of the 20th century Baldwin had a relationship with the Westinghouse Electric Company to build electric locomotives for the American market. The electric locomotive was increasingly popular; electrification was expensive, but for high traffic levels or mountainous terrain it could pay for itself, and in addition some cities like New York, were banning the steam locomotive because of its pollution and the propensity for accidents in smoke-choked terminals. Baldwin built or subcontracted out the bodywork and running gear, and Westinghouse built the electrical gear. Both combined to have a similar arrangement with the Netherlands N.V. Heemaf and Werkspoor for the foreign markets.

Baldwin built the famed EP-1 (1906), EF-1 (1912) and EP-2 (1923) box cab electric locomotives for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. Baldwin also delivered the EP-3 box cab electric locomotives to the Milwaukee Road for use on its line between Harlowton, Montana, and Avery, Idaho.

Baldwin built several electric locomotive types for the Pennsylvania Railroad as well including the P5A, R1 and the famed GG1. Baldwin built the first GG1 prototype electric locomotive for use on the Pennsylvania Railroad's electrified line, which was completed in 1935 between New York and Washington, D.C.

Steam-turbine locomotives
In the waning years of steam Baldwin also undertook several attempts at alternative technologies to diesel power. In 1944 Baldwin outshopped an S2 class 6-8-6 steam turbine locomotive for the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Between 1947 and 1948 Baldwin built three coal-fired steam turbine-electric locomotives of a unique design, for passenger service on the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O), who numbered them 500 to 502 and classified them M-1. The 6000 hp units, which were equipped with Westinghouse electrical systems and had a 2-C1+2-C1-B wheel arrangement, were 106 ft long, making them the longest locomotives ever built for passenger service. The cab was mounted in the center, with a coal bunker ahead of it and a backwards-mounted boiler behind it, the tender only carrying water. These locomotives were intended for a route from Washington, D.C., to Cincinnati, but could never travel the whole route without some sort of failure. Coal dust and water frequently got into the traction motors. These problems could have been fixed given time, but it was obvious that these locomotives would always be expensive to maintain, and all three were scrapped in 1950.

In May 1954 Baldwin built a 4500 hp steam turbine-electric locomotive for freight service on the Norfolk & Western (N&W), nicknamed the "Jawn Henry" after the legend of John Henry, a steel-driver on a track crew who famously raced against a steam drill and won, only to die immediately afterwards. The unit was similar in appearance to the C&O turbines but very different mechanically; it had a C+C-C+C wheel arrangement, and an improved watertube boiler which was fitted with automatic controls. Unfortunately the boiler controls were sometimes problematic, and, as with the C&O turbines, coal dust and water got into the motors. "Jawn Henry" was retired from the N&W roster on January 4, 1958.

Diesel-electric locomotives

Though fairly successful in the marketplace, Baldwin diesels did not do so well as others. Thanks to their robust Westinghouse electrical gear, they were excellent haulers, but the diesel prime movers were less reliable than comparable EMD and Alco products. The company remained fond of steam power and was slow to make the jump to building reliable diesel road locomotives. By the late 1940s, Baldwin's main diesel competitors – Alco, EMD and Fairbanks-Morse – had each settled on four or five standard locomotive models, which were suitable for assembly-line construction. Baldwin, meanwhile, was the sole manufacturer to continue the steam-era practice of offering bespoke locomotive designs at the request of individual railroads. This resulted in a large number of diesel models, most of which had a small number of units (aside from switcher locomotives, only a few models had more than 50 examples). This put Baldwin at a competitive disadvantage since it was unable to benefit from economies of scale, consistent quality control, or the evolution of each model, which its competitors enjoyed. Even the construction could vary between units of the same model, especially if they were not built in sequence. The last Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton diesels were delivered in 1956.

Gas turbine-electric locomotives
In April 1950, Baldwin and Westinghouse completed an experimental 4000 hp gas turbine locomotive, numbered 4000, known as the "Blue Goose", with a B-B-B-B wheel arrangement. The locomotive used two 2000 hp turbine engines fueled by Bunker C fuel oil, was equipped for passenger train heating with a steam generator that utilized the waste exhaust heat of the right hand turbine, and was geared for 100 mph. While it was demonstrated successfully in both freight and passenger service on the PRR, MKT, and CNW, no production orders followed, and it was scrapped in 1953.

title: Baldwin Locomotive Works