Plymouth Locomotive Works
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For articles about other uses of Plymouth, see Plymouth (disambiguation).
Plymouth Locomotive Works was a builder of small railroad locomotives. Until 1999, all Plymouth locomotives were built in a plant in Plymouth, Ohio; in that year the company was purchased by Ohio Locomotive Crane and production moved to Bucyrus, Ohio. Production of locomotives has now ceased, and rights to the spare parts business have been sold to Williams Distribution.
Plymouth locomotives were first built in 1910 by the J.D. Fate Company, which became Fate-Root-Heath in 1919. All early locomotives were powered by gasoline-burning internal combustion engines, but in 1927 the first diesel was produced. The company changed its name to match its locomotive plant in the late 1950s, becoming Plymouth Locomotive Works; in the late 1970s, it became Plymouth Industries.
Plymouth was one of the world's most prolific builders of small industrial locomotives, with over 7,500 constructed of which 1,700 are believed to still be in active use, some of which are over 50 years old. Almost all Plymouth locomotives were under 25 tons. They produced locomotives in most rail gauges, mostly with mechanical torque converter transmissions.
External links
- Plymouth locomotive pictures at North East Rails (http://www.northeast.railfan.net/diesel81.html)
- Williams Distribution's Plymouth Locomotive parts and maintenance (http://www.williamsdistribution.com/plymouth_locomotive.htm)