Railroad Locomotive Builder's Plates

Most railroad locomotives carry a pair of builder's plates. The plates are unique to each locomotive. The plates show the builder, the date built and the construction number of the locomotive. Automobiles have similar tags on them, the VIN tag. Locomotive builder's plates are highly prized among collectors. The four shown are all reproductions of actual builder's plates found on Pennsylvania Railroad steam locomotives. They would be mounted on the side of the smoke box, one on each side, as shown in the 3rd photo. These particular plates show the type of locomotive that they came off of, K-4s, E-6s, etc. Most do not. Modern diesels carry builder's plates as well. Look in the grey colored area just above the front wheel of the locomotive in the 4th picture. As I stated, these are reproductions. Genuine steam locomotive builder's plates can sell for several hundreds up to several thousands of dollars each. Diesel plates can go from a couple hundred to almost $2,000 depending on the model of the locomotive.