Kevin,
When the Baldwins were new, they were OK, but not great - they were only about $6 after all. Now, most of them have suffered cracked gears - the worm gears on the axles split as the plastic ages - and either have a hitch in their getalong or simply stall at the bad spot. NWSL makes a replacement gear set, which requires replacing the worms and the axle gears as a set, that brings them back to "like new" operating status at about $20 per set.
The old open frame motors are more of a problem and I think a modern can motor would be a big improvement, although the basic gearing design will still be marginal at best, even with the NWSL gearset.
John