The 77-year-old locomotive moved by volunteers to West Penn Township in June now sports a builder’s plate providing information about the historic piece of machinery once used in the coal business.

Township resident Dave Frederick celebrated his own birthday on Veterans Day by unveiling two cast-aluminum plates, one for each side of the 30-ton Whitcomb locomotive located at the township municipal building.

It turns out that November is also the birth month for the locomotive, information revealed on the plates.

“They were made by Tilden Manufacturing, a foundry in the Hamburg area,” Frederick said.

The $250 required to manufacture the plaques was donated by Frederick, who credited a rail fan for coming up with the data required to make the plates possible.

“Kermit Geary researched the engine. The plates show the class, serial number and build date. It says 30DM44. The 30 is for 30 ton, D is for diesel, M for mechanical and 44 for the wheelbase of 44 inches,” Frederick said.

“The build date was November of 1941.”

Geary, of Lehigh Gap, is president of the Anthracite Railroad Historical Society.

Also on hand was Bernie Perch of White Haven. Perch is a volunteer engineer involved with production of a similar plate for a Whitcomb engine owned by the Wanamaker, Kempton and Southern Railroad, a privately owned heritage railroad company in Kempton.

That engine, #602, was furnished with a brass plate created by Zawol Foundry of Wilkes-Barre.

Perch said reproduction builder plates are a general approximation of what Whitcomb engines originally carried.

“The original plate probably was smaller. It was probably stamped sheet metal,” said Perch.

Art Sterling Jr. of Andreas, employed by Horwith Trucking, recounted challenges involved in lifting and moving the engine from its location at Beaver Brook, Luzerne County. The unused engine, donated by Pagnotti Enterprises, had become partially embedded in coal land over the decades.

The project, performed on a rainy, muddy day, entailed use of cribbing and careful application of chains and hooks to lift the weight, keep it balanced and move it to a flatbed provided by the Horwith firm.

“The truck got stuck and they had to use a wrecker to pull it out,” Sterling recalled.

Frederick said plans are underway to install a large Santa on the locomotive to surprise and delight residents, visitors and those who drive past the highly visible location atop the Ridge Cup section of Route 309, five miles south of Tamaqua.

“But that won’t happen until sometime after Thanksgiving.”