Baldwin built S8 B-units only for Oliver Mining, (configured in cow-and-calf sets, permanently mated to a standard S8 switcher,) purchased for its Hibbing, MN ore operations. According to the Baldwin Diesel book by Gary and Stephen Dolzall, (Kalmbach Publishing Co.,) there were seven such sets, the only examples of the type Baldwin produced. Oliver also bought Alco's only cow-and-calf production, two sets comprised of an S6 cow, an S8-model calf, which together comprised an SSB-9 set. Use of an S8 designation for the boosters provided by both Baldwin and Alco, might explain why Marty states there were 9, when Baldwin only built seven. In John Kirkland's Diesel Builders book series, the Alco Volume explains the 6, 8 and 9 relate to each unit's place in the company's series of switching locomotives. Other than these few examples, cow-and-calf locomotives were entirely the realm of Electro-Motive.
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