Baldwin Locomotives used in Finland

Here are a few pictures and short descriptions of American Baldwin Locomotive Works' engines used in Finland during the heyday of steam - I think this list is complete, but if anyone has any futher information, I'm all ears at animato@sci.fi

Sources: "Finnish State Railways 1862-1912" Part 2, printed in 1915 / "Suomen veturit", 1975 / color photos by J-E Nyström


This 4-4-0 was one of the very first American locomotives in Finland, built by Baldwin in Philadelphia, USA, in 1872. It was originally privately owned, together with 8 others just like it. It ran on the Hangö - Hyvinge track. The private company had finacial troubles, so these locomotives were bought by the Finnish State Railways in 1875, together with the track they ran on. The engines were scrapped during the period 1911-1918. One was scrapped already in 1901, due to irrepairable collision damage in the first major accident on Finnish rails. The engines were classed by the Finnish State Railways as "A4", and had these Baldwin buld numbers: 2998, 2999, 3002, 3003, 3151 and 3153-3156. I'm building a 7 1/4" gauge live steam model of this class, see the work in progress on this page!


The Finnish State Railways obtained 20 of these 2-6-0 class "G7" engines (later reclassified as Sk4) in 1898 and 1900, and used them until the end of the 1950's, but only as switching locomotives. Stronger engines had taken over passenger and freight traffic by then, and diesel and electric locomotives heralded the end of the steam era. BLW nos. 15700-15705, 15729-15734, 17557-17654.


The "H1" class (later "Hk1") consisted of alltogether 32 4-6-0 engines, 10 of which were built by Baldwin in 1898 (build nos. 15751-15760). The other 22 were also made in the USA, by the Richmond Locomotive Works. This class was use until the end of the 1950's.


Two of these 2-6-2's, (class E1, BLW nos 16471 and 16472) built in 1898, were also privately owned at first, on the Hamina-Inkeroinen track. These engines wre used by the State Railways into the mid-1920's.


This 2-4-2 1899 engine (class F2, BLW no 16635) used on the private Raahe track, was also bought by the State Railways in 1925, but, being to weak, it was immediately decommissioned.


The 20 2-8-0 freight locomotives of class "K1" (later "Tk1") were delivered in 1899-1900 and used until the end of the 1950's. Baldwin built them all - nos17301-17306, 17312-17315, 17413-17422.


Five of these "I1" (later "Vk1") class 2-6-4's were ordered from Baldwin by the State Railways in 1900, and two of them were used into the early 1950's, one was lost to the Soviet Union during WWII, the other two scrapped earlier. BLW build nos. 17565-17569


The twenty 2-10-0 engines of "Tr2" class are the heaviest to have run on Finnish rails - a whopping 166.2 metric tons including the tender! They were manufactured both by Baldwin and the American Locomotive Company. The one in the picture is made by ALCO, and is preserved at our Railway Museum in Hyvinge. 10 of this series of engines were built by Baldwinin 1946 and had build numbers 73227-73236.


The last regular steam traffic in Finland was in the mid-1970's. Some of the engines that were still in use then were mothballed, and a few kept in service to this day for excursions and special events, such as this magnificient "Ukko-Pekka" engine of class Hr1 - the 22 engines of this class were built by the Finnish factories "Tampella" and "Lokomo" in 1937-1957.