Beautiful Baldwins

Diesel locomotives have finite life expectancies, and one rule of thumb for first-generation diesels employed in road freight duty called for 15 years of economical service. Victims of wrecks and fires excepted, a locomotive retired much before 15 years had almost certainly not overwhelmed its owner with its virtues. Twenty years or more in service was a creditable showing, and 30 years an extraordinary show of longevity.

DRS-series heavy road-switchers [from Baldwin] fell into all these categories. Happily, the first -- Columbus & Greenville 601 -- fell into the latter. For more than 35 years C&G 601 labored on the Delta Route, surviving even its owner's brief extinction. 601 remained in service into the fall of 1983 and is slated for permanent display by the railroad at Columbus, Mississippi.

Diesels from Eddystone: The Story of Baldwin Diesel Locomotives, pp 93-4