Plymouth Locomotives

Plymouth locomotives are about as diverse as they come when it comes to the prototype.  This is especially interesting to me considering how relatively few were built, approximately 7,500 total units from 1912 through the mid 1990's.  The plant closed in 1999, but still exists in Plymouth, Ohio.

This link to an advertisement on Wikipedia shows a variation that is close to the K-Line model.  The article has a pretty good overview of the company, but not a lot of prototype photos.  The RR Pictures Archive site is down again today which happens at least once a week, but there are some photos of the various Plymouth offerings there as well.  They started offering these with diesel power in 1927, but I can't say when they stopped offering a gasoline powered version.

The nomenclature on these is equally confusing.  Most are just referred to by their tonnage rating.  The K-Line one represents a 25-ton locomotive, but Plymouth offered up to 120 ton options.  Many were under 25 ton and were offered in smaller gauges.

Similar locomotives include Strasburg #1 and East Broad Top M-4.  Finally, this Flickr site has a nice collection of Plymouth locomotive images.

Finally, if you can decipher it, the American Rails website has the various designations these locomotives received.  It is a fascinating history and one that deserves more research.  Anecdotal at best, but it appears there are some operating that use gasoline.  I was surprised to learn that some utilized propane as far back as 1937.

I'd love to hear more from people who have better access to research than my simple internet research.

Thanks Jonathon. Surfing around a bit more I found some videos of the Strasburg Plymouth. That looks pretty much like a dead match for the K-Line. Its described as built in 1926 and gas powered. That and the Henry Ford gas engine answered another question I had. Neither put out much smoke as expected from a gasoline engine but the Roaring Camp Diesel Plymouth smokes like a MTH engine.

Pete

@Norton posted:

Thanks Jonathon. Surfing around a bit more I found some videos of the Strasburg Plymouth. That looks pretty much like a dead match for the K-Line. Its described as built in 1926 and gas powered. That and the Henry Ford gas engine answered another question I had. Neither put out much smoke as expected from a gasoline engine but the Roaring Camp Diesel Plymouth smokes like a MTH engine.

Pete

They used Chrysler industrial engines in a lot of these Pete. So a lot of smoke would be correct.

Pat

Norton....if you want to discuss the model in detail, please start a thread in the 3-rail traditional forum.  This way we keep the discussion here about the real Plymouth locomotives.  This helps folks do a search in the future by keeping the model and questions about conversions on the model more easily found.  Thanks for your understanding.

Pete,

Here is a fun video of a Plymouth pulling a B6b out of the shed at the PRR Railroad museum.  Great little critters.  I am going to start researching these more along with other small tonnage locomotives.  It is a topic I know very little about and would love to learn more about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7Cgu4K0M8Y

@OGR posted:

Norton....if you want to discuss the model in detail, please start a thread in the 3-rail traditional forum.  This way we keep the discussion here about the real Plymouth locomotives.  This helps folks do a search in the future by keeping the model and questions about conversions on the model more easily found.  Thanks for your understanding.

I posted here because I wanted to know more about prototype. It seems to have drifted towards the model but that wasn’t my intention. Still interested to know if there books written about them.

Pete