Steam locomotive delivery

[donoteat]

How did Baldwin deliver the largest locomotives to customers?
Did they travel under their own power, or in regular freight trains?
Were there any tight curves or other obstacles that required special moves to clear?

I'd love to see pictures of big articulated steam leaving the Eddystone plant on the NEC if such a thing exists...

[NorthWest]

Most were simply delivered dead-in-tow with main rods disconnected in regular freight trains. Larger engines often had to be delivered partially disassembled, such as the Virginia 2-10-10-2s, which had cabs and front cylinders removed for clearance reasons. Others were operated under their own power if the delivery road was close.

I think some of the ATSF's late Baldwins ended up being car floated for part of their delivery route due to clearances.

[Engineer Spike]

I live near the former Alco plant in Schenectady, NY. I believe that some larger engines were routed via large clearance routes. Alco might have shipped via D&H, which had large Challangers, and the Erie, which had large clearance, since it was formerly 6’ gauge. The point is that NYC might have been more direct, but for something like UP Big Boys, they would just use a routing which could handle the size.