0-4-0 "Switcher" Steam Locomotives in the USA

Class 3 (Locobase 16721)

Data from DeGolyer, Volume 43, pp. 321-324 for #4; Volume 34, p. 136 for #3 is missing, but the later spec describes the 4 as a duplicate of #3. Chris Hohl composed the paragraphs covering the 4's career and eventual restoration. Works numbers were 33852 in September 1909 and 39007 in January 1913.

Baldwin's specs recorded "Oliver Chilled Plow Works for Indiana Northern" in 1913. Both locomotives trailed tenders labeled "Oliver". Clearly intended for industrial work on a small scale, the specifications don't skimp on the details. For example: "Cylinders are to be of such proportion as to develop a tractive force equal to adhesion which shall be taken as one-fourth the weight of the locomotive,and are to be made of [sic] good hard close grained iron."

And:

The valve motion to be so designed as to give good and equal steam distribution, and to make th reverse lever easy and light to handle."

And:

"All rod and driving box bearings, also other important bearings to be of such proportions and fitted with high grade of phosphorous bronze or other metal, such as used by the Pennsylvania Railroad so as to insure cool running and prevent excessive wear."

Chris Hohl's 1 June 2026 email includes these comments on the 4 history:

Indiana Northern #4, with "Oliver" adorning the sides of her cab, put in many years of hard work switching the major industries the railroad served in South Bend, IN. She worked until shortly after WWII when she was retired in 1948. Instead of being sold for scrap, the Indiana Northern put #4 up for resale because she was still in fairly good mechanical shape.

She was purchased by the Denton Sand & Gravel Co. in Pacific, MO (just west of St. Louis). While there, she moved cars full of sand and gravel to a connection with the St. Louis-San Francisco ("Frisco"). However, she wasn't treated as well at her new home, and after suffering everything from poor maintenance to frequently being roughly used and even blowing out one of her cylinder heads, she was retired in 1960 and replaced by a diesel (where have we heard that before?). She was completely worn-out, pushed aside, and left behind when the company ceased to be in 1967.

After that, there were multiple attempts to restore the locomotive to operation from 1982 to 2008, but none of these valiant efforts managed to come to fruition. Then, in the summer of 2020, the AIRS (American Industrial Railroad Society) was quickly formed and was able to raise the funds to purchase #4 with the goal of achieving what many have tried and failed up to this point: returning #4 to operation. She is currently under restoration to operation.