Hello people,

I recently had the opportunity to inspect two of these lovely beasts. Both date back to 1926. My question is where would the serial numbers be located - if in fact it survived?

This and two other identical Plymouths were used on the Madawaska Company’s Eagle Lake & West Branch railroad. Two, were purchased by the Madawaska Company and the third by Great Northern Paper. Two survive. I have serial numbers for all three.

What I would like to do is match the surviving locomotives to the serial numbers on record.





Thank you!

RPYN's "search" feature can be your friend. Here is one suggestion I found that could be helpful to your quest if the locos have"cast" frames:

http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=45016&p=308325&hilit=serial+plymouth#p308325

Bob Milhaupt

Thanks Bob,

In this case “search” is not my friend. As you can see in the photos I provided in my original post, these are built up frame locomotives rather than cast. The thread you provided the link too indicates that the serial number may not be in the same location as the cast frame models. Another thread indicated that some models have the serial number stamped on a small metal plate riveted to the cab wall. But again, they were a different model and era and might not apply.

My access to the locomotives is limited so I am trying to pin it down as close as possible to preclude a lengthy or invasive search.

I was the principal restorer/benefactor of a partially restored 1920 built Plymouth Model BL-2 at a "railroad museum" (cum amusement park) in Rochester (Industry) NY.

Cast Iron Frame members with a steel skeleton upper "Cab" with Steel Sheet Sides, wooden cab roof and an "Engine Hood" framed out with steel/wood with a folded "Sheet Iron" cab roof and engine hood exterior.

We found the most likely "match" to a Plymouth BL-2 made in 1920 (SN 969 IIRC) for the Merchant's Dispatch Company, a subsidiary of the NYCRR located in East Rochester NY which built all kinds of RR freight cars for the NYCRR (iced refrigerators, box cars, gondolas, etc).

Was apparently sold to a shipyard on the south shore of Lake Ontario that made landing barges (some constructed of concrete) to support the WWII effort. Some time in the 1950's the locomotive was rolled off the "end of track" to rot away in the dirt, had a tree growing up through the cab when we arrived to recover it.

Besides the very obvious "Plymouth BL/2 1919" name cast prominently on the Cast Iron Side-frames I found no SN markings on any of the frame members, I believe the SN / Builders Number was on a Brass Tag inside the cab on the front wall.

By the time this locomotive was recovered all of the brass/copper parts had been "reclaimed by passers by", including the radiator core (had to fabricate a new one by cutting down an old truck radiator and soldering on new end sheets).

I suspect if any SN/Builders Number are present on your Loco it will be on a brass tag inside the cab. Maybe covered in many layers of grime. A brass tag could have fallen to the ground under the loco as the wooden front wail of the cab rotted away over time.

Good Luck, Kevin.

The Plymouth records went to the American Industrial Mining Co. Museum. If the two surviving locos have their original engines you may be able to match the serial numbers. https://americanindustrialmining.com/pl ... tive-works