QUICK FACTS

Model: JLB Type 2 (18-Ton) locomotive
Built: October 13, 1941
Builder: Plymouth Locomotive Works, Plymouth, OH
Past Railroad Owners: U.S. Army
Current Owner: TOYX, Inc.

Locomotive No. 7299 was built by the Plymouth Locomotive Works of Plymouth, Ohio, a specialty manufacturer of small industrial locomotives. The diminutive 18-ton locomotive was built for the U.S. Army, and rolled off the assembly line on October 13, 1941 with construction number 4252. The locomotive originally featured a Buda model FK6 gasoline engine (136 horsepower) with a direct chain drive to the axles, a four-speed manual transmission, and a top speed of 13.5 mph. The entire locomotive was painted bright yellow for the U.S. Army Ordinance Corps.

The locomotive was initially assigned to the Erie Proving Ground in Lacarne, Ohio, and it was delivered there on October 14, 1941. It remained stationed the Erie Proving Ground for the first three years of World War II, helping to move ordinance in support of the war effort. On December 21, 1944, the locomotive was reassigned to the Army’s Sharonville Engineering Depot in Sharonville, Ohio, where it finished out the war. It was eventually reassigned to the Army Storage Depot in Somerset, New Jersey, where the original Buda gasoline engine was swapped out in the mid-1970s for a more reliable inline Detroit 4-71 diesel (which produces about 150 horsepower). Throughout its entire military career, the locomotive retained road number 7299.

The Army Storage Depot in Somerset was shut down in 1998, and the locomotive was stored on site. On July 12, 2003, the No. 7299 was donated to the Military Transport Association and moved to the Morristown & Erie Railway in Morristown, New Jersey, where it was quickly repainted and was thereafter operated regularly as a shop switcher. This locomotive played an integral role in New Jersey’s recovery from Superstorm Sandy in 2012, helping to move parts and wheels around the shop as 18 storm-damaged NJ Transit locomotives were repaired under contract by the Morristown & Erie. The railroad stopped using the locomotive around 2017, and stored it serviceable at their shop complex.

On April 11, 2021, the Military Transport Association donated the No. 7299 for use as a yard switcher in Port Jervis. Its small size (less than 19 feet long over the couplers) means that it will fit on the 115-foot-long Port Jervis turntable with any other piece of rail equipment in our collection, allowing volunteers to move railcars around the yard as needed.

The No. 7299 arrived in Port Jervis, New York on April 25, 2022, and it is currently the only operable locomotive on site. It is slated to be cosmetically restored to its U.S. Army Ordinance Corps paint in 2024.