Orrville Railroad Heritage Society is looking into acquiring a Plymouth DL. Does anyone have any idea where to look for a construction number so we can trace its history? IIRC, the builders plates would have been on the lower cab side corners - they're long gone.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

The most common place for the PLW plate on locos of this model was inside the cab, either on the front or rear wall above the windows. PLW very seldom put plates on the exterior of their locos, almost always inside the cab. Being just a 3x5" piece of thin sheet metal it can be overlooked if covered with some layers of paint. Plymouths with a cast frame were not marked with the b/n externally but those with a welded frame almost always had the b/n stamped above the rear coupler pocket, either on the rear facing surface or on the top edge of the rear frame plate. This will be a 4 digit number, anything with fewer or more digits or letters included.may be a manufacturing code.

Thanks David. We'll have one of the guys take another look in the cab. I was busy inspecting it mechanically and didn't think to look at the time. It had, in automotive parlance, a recent frame-off restoration so if the plate was there before that, it should be back in place.

No builders plates that we can find. What little history I can find was that it was at Lake Erie Rail Car in New London, OH in the early '90s, wound up with the W&LE when they purchased LERC's assets and was then sold to the late Bob Bixler in Orrville, OH. Rumor has it that it was somewhere in Cleveland for about 10 years prior to LERC. There are also claims that it was built in the '30s.

If my memory serves, it has a Detroit/GM 371 in it. No clue what it was manufactured with. It is an 8-ton DL.

I asked John T if he had anything in his lists but he has nothing crosses.

If anyone can come up with a bit more history, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

By W&LE did you mean Wheeling & Lake Erie RR?

It would have been built with a Climax or Buda gas engine most likely, but if it has a Detroit/GM 371 in it now, that may have been done later by Plymouth. That is a common swap in these things with many done by Plymouth. You might try http://plymouthlocomotiveservice.com/ and see what records they have maintained. I thought I read someplace that they have proven quite helpful.

Please let us know what you find out. I have soft spot for Plymouth Locomotives.

J.R. May

John - The “new” Wheeling & Lake Erie.

J.R. - The Detroit install was not a hack job. Looks like it was built that way so a Plymouth rebuild seems likely. A very sweet runner. Can’t wait until it’s on the property.

I’ll try Plymouth Services and see if they have any info.

Another potential clue: it is said that when in Cleveland, it was in an old warehouse when purchased by someone that owned or worked on passenger cars. They got it running and used it for 10 years as the shop switcher. I don’t know who that might have been or if it’s just rumor. That would have been ‘70s - ‘80s and outside my limited knowledge timeframe.

I’ll post whatever else I find out.

I have a 10 ton DLB, 1929. Brass plate was bolted to the front wall, above the 'fireman' window frame just below the roof.

The Buda engine was long gone when I got it. I have all the sheet metal and even still has the wheel shields. I haven't had a chance to really work on it yet, but the repower is going to be interesting. Any part numbers/pics of the engine to transmission setup would be most appreciated!

1929 1/30/1925 24” DL-6 Buda BTU 52hp B 7T G/M
Wayne County Board of Road Commissioners #30, Wayne, Mich.
Returned to Plymouth
Rebuilt Std DLB
Brown & Root Inc & McKenzie Construction Co, Marshall Ford Dam, Texas - 1/20/1938
Brown & Root Inc & McKenzie Construction Co, Lottie, La.

Can you ad anything?

John - Is that info for Adam's or ours?

Adam - As soon as we have it on our property, sometime after August 16, I'll shoot some images and send them (and I'll post a few on RyPN). Then you can let me know what to zoom in on.

Another possible hint: I've also heard it referred to as a DL2. I'm not familiar with numbers after the model designation.

Adam said his Plymouth was #1929 so I looked it up.

The Plymouth DL series locomotives were the 4th style offered (AL, BL, CL, DL.... )

A Plymouth DL-2, is a DL (meaning generally early) with a type 2 (low, "Quarry" cab)

From my notes...

DL Series
7-8 ton, Mechanical drive (4 speed) various engines offered. First built, 10/1922. The model DL was the first Plymouth built with a mechanical transmission. It was by far the most common Plymouth, with a total of 1771 built.
DL, 7 ton, Buda BTU gas Engine, later also offered with Climax TU engine
DLC, with Climax engine, 7 ton weight starting 8/1924, as 8 ton 1/1925
DLB, later designation for Buda engine
DLH, 10 ton, Hercules engine, 3/1930
DLD, with diesel engine (generic, does not specify which engine, frequently used for
factory rebuilt locomotives
DLL, 8 ton, LeRoy engine, 2/1940
DCD, 8 ton, Cummins Diesel, 3/1940

DL cab options.
2 – Low cab
4 – No cab
6 – Tall cab

I own DL-2, c/n 1362, 36" gauge, built Dec 1922, delivered early January 1923 to Old Mission Cement in San Juan Bautistia CA... It is a complete unmodified locomotive. It in theory runs, but has not be cooperative recently. It is kept at the Nevada State Railroad Museum Boulder City. I share track with Dan Markoff's Eureka. The DL series remained in production into the 1950's, possibly later... As DMD mining locomotives.

I've not paid much attention to critters over the years. They were kind of an oddity to me. However, I'm enjoying researching this little guy and learning about Plymouth.

Randy - Thanks for clarifying the cab designations and the models. It's definitely not a -2 now and I've seen/heard references to it as being heavily modified so the cab could have been changed. With a cab change, the original builder's plates could be gone with the old cab. I've also seen it referred to as a DLC though who knows if that's correct or a guess on someone else's part.

Once I get a chance to really crawl all over it in fine detail next month, I hope I can find something somewhere to narrow it down.

Hey John,
Thanks for looking up the info, but I meant it was build in 1929. I don't recall the serial number and the plate is packed away in storage. I didn't think about getting any information using the serial number!

Eric,
That would be great. I would love to get seriously started on it early next year.

Supposedly it was used at the Navy munitions plant in Charleston, SC. It was found behind a mobile home dealer in the woods. I bought it from the gentleman that rescued it.

Here is a pic of one just like it I found online. I guess it has the shorter cab with the slant at the rear bottom.

Adam,

Here are a couple of possibilities:

3501 6/16/1930 36” DLC-6 Climax TU 65hp B 8T G/M
Austin Bridge Co, Clarendon, Ark.
Reliance Clay Products, Mineral Wells, Tex. 12/16/1935
US Navy #65-00115 (?) ca. 1950, location unknown.

3563 10/17/1930 Std DLC-6 Climax TU 65hp B 8T G/M
J F Shea Co –for-
General Construction Co, Dunaway, Ore.
US Navy #65-00465, location unknown