3 axle switcher

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

Hi Everyone,

Does anyone know of an American 3 axle switcher? I have been searching the forums and google images, but could not come up with anything.

Thanks,

Jim

2

Hi Jim,

Plymouth Locomotive Works built three-axle diesel switchers in several sizes and configurations. Most were produced in the 1930s and 1940s, and some of them are shown in Louis Marre’s book, “Diesel Locomotives: The First 50 Years,” published by Kalmbach. (This book is out of print, but copies are available from Amazon and other sources.) Also, the “Model Railroader Cyclopedia, Volume 2: Diesel Locomotives,” includes a drawing and photos of a three-axle, 65-ton Plymouth “Flexomotive” of the 1940s.

Davenport Locomotive Works also built a few three-axle switchers, and the Marre book includes a photo of one of them that was sold to a Class 1 railroad, Rock Island no. 350. It was one of a series of six 30-ton engines, 345 through 350, built in 1940 and '41.

So long,

Andy

3

Mack also built some 3 axle switchers. The Lehigh Valley had at least one of them.