| Chicago River & Indiana Railroad (CR&I) Lima-Hamilton (L-H) A-3170 #8410, built May 1951 (c/n 9496), Chicago, Illinois, June 13, 1965, photo by Chuck Zeiler. As far as I can tell, L-H did not have model numbers for their diesel-electric locomotives, but used a specification number. Some references make use of a LS-1200 model, but I believe this is might be diesel spotters handiwork. The CR&I was a subsidiary of the New York Central, and 8410 is seen in the Chicago Junction (CJ) Yard, a railroad company leased by the NYC for 99 years starting in 1922, the same year the NYC purchased the CR&I. Both the CR&I and the CJ were switching railroads and effectively controlled access to the Chicago Stockyards. The CR&I had the distinction of being the world's only all Lima-Hamilton powered railroad when the NYC replaced the steam power with diesel. Starting in 1949, the NYC placed an order for six 1000 hp switchers (#'s 8400-8405) of similar design (A-3170, the specification number did not change when the horsepower was increased to 1200). Following the merger of Baldwin and L-H in November 1950, the NYC placed another order for ten 800 hp switchers (spec. # A-3171, CR&I road #'s 9800-9809), and in May 1951 ordered (L-H order # 1219-DE) six 1200 hp A-3170 switchers, CR&I #'s 8406-8411. The 1200 hp A-3170 weighed between 120-125 tons, was powered by a 8 cylinder inline turbocharged Hamilton T89SA diesel driving a Westinghouse 499A main generator, with four 362D traction motors. It was classed as DES-15b by the NYC. The #8839 to the right was an Indiana Harbor Belt (another NYC subsidiary) SW-7, built January 1950 (c/n 8130), became CR&I 8839 during January 1965, became PC 8839 February 1968, and became CR 8867 April 1976. |