Operable Plymouth Locomotives at Museums/Tourist Railroads?

JDLX · **Posted:** Thu Nov 21, 2019 11:26 pm

There are at least three narrow gauge Plymouths in the west.

- Roaring Camp & Big Trees #40 (12 ton), purchased as per the Arcadia book on the railroad from Kaiser Steel in 1978 and now with a Detroit 471 engine.

- Sumpter Valley #110 (10-ton). Originally Nelson Machinery Company, Ltd. (Dealer), North Vancouver, BC; to Atlas Mine & Supply Company (Dealer), Spokane, WA, circa 1972; to Crown Zellerbach Corp., Camas, WA; to Sumpter Valley Railway Restoration #101 circa 1982/1983, later renumbered Sumpter Valley #110

- Sumpter Valley #118 (15-ton), c/n 6373, built 8/1963. Originally constructed as a mine locomotive without a cab. Built for Perini Corporation (American River Project), Auburn, CA; to McCormick-Morgan, Auburn, CA; to Wyckoff Company, Seattle, WA, 1985; to Pacific Sound Resources, Seattle, WA, 1992; to Sumpter Valley Railway Restoration; cab added July 1996.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

Randy Hees · **Posted:** Fri Nov 22, 2019 12:56 am

Nevada County Narrow Gauge (Nevada City CA) museum has two, a FL from a powder works and the West Side Lumber DL... both are operable.

The SPCRR at Ardenwood Farm have a model HG c.1970. This one of many HG locomotives from the Baraboo munitions plant. It has been converted to Diesel.. it is regularly operated. The Orange Empire Railroad Museum also have one. Dan Markoff (Eureka) has one as well.

At the Ryan (Death Valley) town site they have a 2' gauge Plymouth BL from the Pacific Coast Borax "Baby Gauge" in operating condition. Down the hill in Furnace Creek there is a Plymouth Model AL on display with a mucker built on a second AL

The Nevada State Railroad Museum, Carson City has a standard gauge DL converted to hyrostatic drive used as a shop switcher.

At the Nevada State Railroad Museum, Boulder City, we have a privately owned (by my self) 3' gauge 1922 DL, complete and original as built. In theory operable.

Near NSRM-BC, a local elementary school has a Plymouth DM in its mining equipment display.

Randy

Joe Nugent · **Posted:** Fri Nov 22, 2019 8:56 am

NYCRRson wrote:

"Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum:

Our Plymouth Model BL is stored serviceable inside our shop building:

http://www.rgvrrm.org/about/railroad/rgv01/

-otto-"

The Plymouth Model BL-2 at the RGVRRM is not "serviceable".

I was the project foreman at that museum in charge of restoring that Plymouth BL-2.

It's OFFICIAL status as determined by the project foreman is OUT OF SERVICE pending completion of restoration.

It has moveable engine compartment doors with no safe means of securing them from moving (no latches on the doors).

It also has an incomplete engine lubrication system with no means of monitoring oil pressure during the operation of the Buda Gasoline Engine which could allow a destructive and undetected drop in oil pressure leading to the destruction of the original 1920's engine.

The brakes are not properly adjusted for maximum effectiveness.

It has no air brake equipment precluding it's movement in any "modern" train with out a rider onboard to apply the single manual brake system. It does not have any "pass through" air brake piping to allow it to move in the "middle" of any modern train.

It does not have any fire extinguisher equipment on board, and everybody knows that a locomotive cannot be considered "serviceable" without a current fire extinguisher onboard. Even more important with a gasoline fueled unit.

The wheel profiles are horribly worn, unsafe and totally dangerous leading to easily splitting a switch point or derailing on a switch frog.

And it has no exterior lighting (headlights, or running lights) to enable safe operation under low lighting conditions.

A formal operational manual instructing crews in the proper and safe operation of that unique locomotive is also incomplete and no volunteers at that museum are currently qualified to safely operate it.

That locomotive has a cast iron frame that is totally incompatible with modern steel framed railroad equipment. In fact the "front end" of the frame of that loco was "snapped off" way back in the 40's/50's and was replaced with a steel weldment.

Otto is not qualified to make any statements about the condition of the Plymouth BL-2 (coming up on 100 years old in the Fall of 2020).

Otto is not the Chief Mechanical Officer at that museum, not in charge of the Motive Power Department, has no Mechanical Engineering training and is not the project foreman for an incomplete restoration project.

CMO here... our Plymouth BL-2 is currently out of service and is tagged as such. Thank you for your concern.

Joe

John Redden · **Joined:** Sun Aug 22, 2004 8:53 pm **Posts:** 220

Quote:

There are at least three narrow gauge Plymouths in the west.

A bit farther west, the LK&P on Maui has a narrow gauge MDT, apparently still operable.

JR

G. W. Laepple · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 5:10 pm **Posts:** 1182

The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania at Strasburg has a 20-ton Plymouth used as shop switcher.

NYCRRson · **Joined:** Fri Aug 20, 2010 8:25 pm **Posts:** 512

"(RGVRRM) CMO here... our Plymouth BL-2 is currently out of service and is tagged as such. Thank you for your concern.'

Thank you for taking the SAFE course of action.

In fact the Plymouth BL-2 at the RGVRRM was never "IN SERVICE" in the "modern era" post 1950's

trainsfireengine · **Posted:** Sat Nov 23, 2019 11:34 am

Midwest Railway Preservation Society in Cleveland has a Plymouth DGT that is operating. One advantage for MRPS in having a very small loco like this is that it fits onto the turntable when you want to move a much longer heavier piece of equipment like an 85 foot passenger car or a steam loco. The Plymouth is privately owned and on permanent loan to MRPS. The Plymouth has a Hercules 539 4 cylinder gas engine with a torque convertor, and it also has train brakes.

Jason Midyette · **Posted:** Sun Nov 24, 2019 1:38 pm

The South Park Rail Society in Como, Colorado has a Plymouth 12 ton diesel/mechanical locomotive in service.

No. 5 is leased to the SPRS.

Photo shows No. 5 shortly after its arrival in Como on August 16, 2019.

Jason Midyette

murph · **Joined:** Sun Jul 17, 2016 7:58 pm **Posts:** 40

A wise man once told me that every tourist railroad needed a Plymouth and a center cab. I'd love to get my hands on a Plymouth 36" gauge locomotive, but they seem to be getting harder to find by the minute.

Kelly Anderson · **Joined:** Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:52 am **Posts:** 2477

NKP779 · **Joined:** Mon Mar 14, 2011 4:10 pm **Posts:** 89

Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, Inc. does indeed own and operate the 1942 Plymouth, X-USN, that was formerly at Delaware, Ohio. It will be numbered back to No. 25 shortly, as that is the road numbered it carried for most of its career.

The black Plymouth, inside the 3 sided shed, is not owned by FWRHS. It is owned and operated by the Casad Industrial Park, but considering that we are side by side with them, it is probably easier to just list it under FWRHS, with a footnote.

Tyler H. · **Posted:** Sun Dec 01, 2019 11:12 pm

Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington #52, built 1962:

http://wwfry.org/?page_id=231

Sparky418 · **Posted:** Mon Dec 02, 2019 1:52 pm

JDLX wrote:

There are at least three narrow gauge Plymouths in the west.

- Roaring Camp & Big Trees #40 (12 ton), purchased as per the Arcadia book on the railroad from Kaiser Steel in 1978 and now with a Detroit 471 engine.

- Sumpter Valley #110 (10-ton). Originally Nelson Machinery Company, Ltd. (Dealer), North Vancouver, BC; to Atlas Mine & Supply Company (Dealer), Spokane, WA, circa 1972; to Crown Zellerbach Corp., Camas, WA; to Sumpter Valley Railway Restoration #101 circa 1982/1983, later renumbered Sumpter Valley #110

- Sumpter Valley #118 (15-ton), c/n 6373, built 8/1963. Originally constructed as a mine locomotive without a cab. Built for Perini Corporation (American River Project), Auburn, CA; to McCormick-Morgan, Auburn, CA; to Wyckoff Company, Seattle, WA, 1985; to Pacific Sound Resources, Seattle, WA, 1992; to Sumpter Valley Railway Restoration; cab added July 1996.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

Add to that "Old Smokeless"--a 3' gauge Plymouth built for working in a gunpowder factory--at the Southern California Railway Museum (formerly OERM). Smokeless is the main switch engine for the Grizzly Flats portion of the museum, moving Chloe, Emma, and the rolling stock preserved in Grizzly around while we don't have an operable narrow gauge steam engine.

(Photo credit: Tom Daspit, Garlic)

We also have Edison ML-6 #12, but it's sat cold by Carbarn #4 behind a mechanical reefer for as long as I can remember. For many years this was the only operable diesel owned by the trolley side of the museum (before the merger in '75 but I could be wrong) A couple winters ago while setting up decorations for our Christmas event, some of the steam crew and I poked around in the hood and found it's in reasonable shape.

(Photo credit: Chris Guenzler)

Brian Norden · **Posted:** Mon Dec 02, 2019 4:25 pm

Sparky418 wrote:

Add to that "Old Smokeless"--a 3' gauge Plymouth built for working in a gunpowder factory--at the Southern California Railway Museum (formerly OERM). Smokeless is the main switch engine for the Grizzly Flats portion of the museum, moving Chloe, Emma, and the rolling stock preserved in Grizzly around while we don't have an operable narrow gauge steam engine.

"Smokeless" was bought by a museum member and donated to the Museum to serve as the narrow-gauge switcher (an upgrade from human push power). It came from the Badger ammunition depot in Wisconsin and had worked the smokeless powder section of the plant -- it arrived with the name!

Sparky418 wrote:

We also have Edison ML-6 #12, but it's sat cold by Carbarn #4 behind a mechanical reefer for as long as I can remember. For many years this was the only operable diesel owned by the trolley side of the museum (before the merger in '75 but I could be wrong) A couple winters ago while setting up decorations for our Christmas event, some of the steam crew and I poked around in the hood and found it's in reasonable shape.

The #12 was used at the Southern California Edison supply yard in Alhambra which once had rail service. It's donation was arranged by a group of SCE upper-level employees that were were museum members. Prior to going to the museum it was repainted and renumbered. At Alhambra it had some kind of asset number; the paint crew decided to apply the number 12 which was one number higher than the numbers used by the locomotives used at the SCE "Big Creek" hydro-electric facilities in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains.
The #12 was built for US Army service in 1941 and assigned to a facility near San Luis Obispo, California.

I remember one time, years ago when I ran the #12 for most of a day as we dumped two hopper loads of ballast. The locomotive was without a muffler and at the end of the day someone described my condition as "shell shock." Being mechanical drive it has a manual throttle, an air brake stand, a manual forward-reverse, a manual transmission and a foot (feet) operated clutch. No wonder why I was mentally and physically tired.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Fri Dec 06, 2019 7:02 pm

Found you another (allegedly) operable narrow-gauge Plymouth:

The Connecticut Antique Machinery Assn. in Kent, Connecticut, owners of Hawaii Ry. 2-4-2 5 and Argent Lumber 2-8-0 4, also have on site this little Plymouth. How operable it is, you'd have to ask them. Photo from May 2016 by yours truly.

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