CONNERSVILLE, Ind. – After a 10-year restoration effort, the Whitewater Valley Railroad has fired up its rare Armco Lima-Hamilton A-3080/LS-1000 switcher No. 709. The last time the prime mover ran was in 2005. Whitewater Valley is a heritage railroad that operates between Connersville and Metamora in southeastern Indiana. The engine was moved on the railroad’s trackage in Connersville for testing Jan. 14. More work remains before the unit can be put into regular service.
Lima-Hamilton Corp. of Lima, Ohio built 38 of the A-3080/LS-1000 type switchers between May 1949 and April 1950. Three of the units went to Armco, numbered 707-709. Other railroads that operated the model included Baltimore & Ohio (10), Erie (10), Indian Hill & Iron Range (1), New York Central (6), Nickel Plate (4), Toledo, Peoria & Western (3) and Wabash (2). All have been scrapped except 709.
Whitewater Valley has two other Lima diesel switchers on its roster: former Cincinnati Union Terminal A-3149/LS-750 No. 25 (the last of only six built), and ex-Baltimore & Ohio A-3170/LS-1200 No. 320. ARMCO Steel LS-1200 No. E-110, the final locomotive produced by Lima- Hamilton, is preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Ill. Lima-Hamilton did not assign model numbers to their models but referred to them by specification numbers. Model designations such as LS-750 or LS-1000 were developed by railroad fans to identify them.
a lot of patience and detailed work by a bunch of volunteers.