The A-3170 (LS-1200) is a diesel-electric switcher locomotive built between May 1950 and August 1951, by the Lima-Hamilton Corporation of

Lima, Ohio Lima ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwest Ohio along Interstate 75 in Ohio, Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton, southwest of Toledo, Ohio, T ...

, United States. Lima's original design was the A-3080, a 1,000 hp (750 kW) switcher, which became the standard for Lima's designs. A 660 hp (490 kW) switcher (proposed specification number A-3081) had also been designed at the request of American Rolling Mill Company, but none were built. By changing fuel rack settings, the A-3080 was upgraded to the A-3170 producing 1,200 horsepower (890 kW) from a

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

Hamilton T89SA

four-stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...

, eight cylinder inline diesel engine, a Westinghouse generator and 4 Westinghouse traction motors provided the 74,508

lbf The pound of force or pound-force (symbol: lbf, sometimes lbf,) is a unit of force used in some systems of measurement, including English Engineering units and the foot–pound–second system. Pound-force should not be confused with pound-m ...

(331.43 kN) of tractive effort. Lima-Hamilton did not assign model numbers to their models but referred to them by specification numbers. Model designations such as LS-1200 were a railfan invention. Lima-Hamilton assigned A-3170 as the specification number for this particular unit. The

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

ordered 60 locomotives but agreed to receive 84 S12s from BLH instead.

Original owners

Preservation

Two A-3170’s are preserved: *ARMCO Steel E-110, the final locomotive produced by Lima- Hamilton, at the

Illinois Railway Museum The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM, reporting mark IRMX) is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, northwest of downtown Chicago. Overview Histo ...

. *Baltimore and Ohio 320, at the

Whitewater Valley Railroad The Whitewater Valley Railroad is a heritage railway, heritage railroad in southeastern Indiana between Connersville, Indiana, Connersville and Metamora, Indiana, Metamora. The railroad is dedicated to the preservation and presentation of a 1950s ...

References

* * * Lima diesel locomotives B-B locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1950 Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Baltimore and Ohio locomotives Erie Railroad locomotives New York Central Railroad locomotives New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad locomotives Nickel Plate Road locomotives Shunting locomotives {{diesel-loco-stub