The Plymouth Locomotive Works first began building gasoline fuelled locomotives in 1912 based on the road vehicles they had been building (as the Plymouth Truck Company) since 1909. The early locomotives which had friction drives and were sold under the J.D. Fate name [1].
In the early 1920s the first diesel locomotive was built and the company moved fully to building industrial locomotives (selling the automobile side of the business to Chrysler in 1928). The company went on to build thousands of small diesel shunters (or switchers to use the US term) for industrial and small yard use in the US and around the world until the late 1990s.
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| Plymouth 5800 at the Statfold Barn Railway |
| Information |
| Number built: |
Over 7, 500 |
| Built: |
1912-1997 |
| Builder: |
Plymouth Locomotive Works |
| Motor: |
(J Series example) Caterpillar D326 diesel |
| Power: |
(Typical) 185 hp (198 kW) |
| Wheel arrangement: |
4wDM |
Most locomotives were under 25 US tons (22.6 metric tons) and were offered with a variety of powerplants including Caterpillar, Cummins and Hercules diesel engines. Over one thousand and seven hundred are thought to be still in use.
Five are preserved in the UK [2], three of them at the Statfold Barn Railway. One example is Plymouth 5800 which was built in 1954 and worked at St Marys Cement Company in Ohio, USA working on a 914mm gauge system. It was converted to 610mm gauge when bought across to the UK.
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| Playmouth 1891 is an early example, it has a Caterpillar D315 engine |
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| Plymouth 6137 is also at the Statfold Barn Railway with 5800 and 1891 |
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| Side view of 5800 |
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| Another view of 6137 |
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| 1891 seen at the Statfold Barn Railway |
[1] Plymouth Locomotive Works, American Industrial Mining Company Museum <http://americanindustrialmining.com/plymouth-locomotive-works>
[2] Industrial Railway Society, Industrial Locomotives Handbook 18th Edition (Industrial Railway Society, 2019) p. 381
