B&O Museum Gets Domino Sugar Plymouth

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Mon Oct 21, 2019 12:53 pm

https://www.baltimoresun.com/business/b ... story.html

Quote:

The Domino Sugar Baltimore Refinery is donating a working locomotive from 1950, known as “Sweet Toot,” to the B&O Railroad Museum.

For nearly three decades, Domino has used the tiny Plymouth engine to move rail cars around its refinery in Locust Point, where its iconic neon sign graces the Inner Harbor.

American Sugar Refining, Domino’s owner, decided to donate the train after making the switch to a stronger engine with lower emissions and better fuel economy, “given the daily demands of moving heavy railcars at our facility,” said Rich Baker, ASR Group’s vice president of corporate engineering, in an announcement Monday.

“We’ll miss her," Baker said, “but are delighted that the B&O Railroad Museum will be able to preserve her and put her to good use for years to come.”

CSX will deliver the locomotive on Tuesday, pulling it five miles from the refinery to the museum in southwest Baltimore, which celebrates the birthplace of American railroading and offers guests rides on the first mile of track ever laid. The engine will work occasionally at the museum, helping to move its collections of locomotives and rolling stock.

Kris Hoellen, the museum’s executive director, called the engine “an authentic piece of Baltimore railroad history” that the museum also can put to use.

“Sweet Toot” has worked every day since 1992 at Domino, pulling empty rail cars from the siding to be loaded with granulated or liquid sugar and then positioning the full rail cars for pickup and delivery to customers by CSX. Domino ships about 1,100 railcars each year from the refinery, which is in its 98th year of operation.

More at the link. I believe the loco has been replaced by a Trackmobile/ShuttleWagon.

Comments by me:
1) So much for the discussion as to whether the incoming Chessie GP15-1 would be the "shop switcher"..........
2) Domino Sugar is a local company brand with great prominence out of proportion to its true economic impact, most amply demonstrated by the landmark red neon sign prominent over the Inner Harbor. The Museum already received a set of Domino Sugar covered hoppers donated years ago--as I recall, one was retained and others sent to places like the Western Md. Scenic RR because of lack of track space. This loco, if it stays in Domino colors, will be a "cute" local mascot that garners attention far out of proportion to its relative importance, much like a certain other blue loco.....

Photo below from the Locust Point, South Baltimore Domino facility--which is up the street from an Irish pub I used to frequent under its former ownership.....

Ed Kapuscinski · **Posted:** Mon Oct 21, 2019 1:07 pm

Fantastic news.

I knew it had been taken out of service and was hoping this was in the works.

PaulWWoodring · **Posted:** Mon Oct 21, 2019 4:22 pm

Having switched Domino a few times while I was at CSX, I can attest that it is a difficult place to switch. Mostly because the tracks run slightly downgrade towards the harbor, and there are no bumpers or derails between the facility and the water. Also, where the rails are embedded in the concrete floors of the factory, they tend to have more than a little granular sugar on them. All of this made for more than a little pucker factor in switching, and I was switching with things like GP38s and MP15s, not a little Pymouth.

John T · **Joined:** Sun Sep 14, 2014 5:05 pm **Posts:** 1270

So, which Plymouth is this?

Nova55 · **Joined:** Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:09 pm **Posts:** 597

There has been some rumblings that there is a bit of new management at the B&O Museum all of a sudden, could this be part of the new acquisitions? Good looking engine.

softwerkslex · **Posted:** Mon Oct 21, 2019 7:50 pm

Cute - I bet it would look great with a Thomas body cover.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Tue Oct 22, 2019 11:21 am

Nova55 wrote:

There has been some rumblings that there is a bit of new management at the B&O Museum all of a sudden, could this be part of the new acquisitions? Good looking engine.

Some rumblings? It's been public for a while that new Executive Director Kris Hoellen replaced retiring ED Courtney Wilson a year or so ago, with a gradual transition:

http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/20 ... ry-in-mind

If I were forced to guess, I'd think that the new acquisitions showing up all of a sudden, and other events such as CSX loco displays, is more a coincidence of chance and availability (CSX surplusing the GP15-1, having new "tribute" units to showcase, etc.) than any change of management.

And if I'm wrong, and these and other happenings are a case of "doers" and "go-getters" replacing "slackers" from the top down, well, that's more for an internal discussion among volunteers, staff, would-be volunteers and donors, etc. than a public forum.