Lima, OH: Locomotive Works

(Satellite)
The Lima Locomotive Works was located in between the B&O's Cincinnati-Toledo line (east side) and Nickel Plate's main line and shops (northish side). I assume they were served by both railroads. The following photos are facing West.

Christopher Bost shared, builders
John Bazan Any idea when the old buildings were demolished?
Scott Jordan I believe 1998.
Troy Kleman last building was demolished two years ago. [2014]
[The railyard has expanded, otherwise it is still vacant. Is the lack of development due to Lima's economy or the land is polluted or both? (I assume railroads don't care about "brown land" because their yards are also considered "brown land.")]

Scott Jordan posted his photos again and got a different set of comments.

In one of the postings, someone asked about the Erie-Lackawanna's routing in the area and Scott answered:

Scott Jordan commented

CTR

Super-Power citadel

The Lima Locomotive Works plant in Lima, Ohio, birthplace of hundreds of advanced “Super-Power” steam locomotives, occupied a triangular site on the city’s south side between B&O and Nickel Plate lines.
Classic Trains coll.

Daniel Allor posted
My family`s connection to the railroad industry goes a bit deeper than most as my grandfather retired as the president of the Hamilton Division of the Baldwin Lima Hamilton Corporation in 1955. Grandfather had for years been on the Board of Directors of the General Machinery Co. which became BLH. Thank you for adding me to the site.
Stephen Phillips This is taken at the Lima Works ... Wed. Sept. 12, 1951... a significant day , as this locomotive , Pennsylvania Railroad No. 5683. was the very last locomotive built by Lima

Md Joy Khan posted
Brian Rasmussen posted
In August 1950 plans were announced for the merger of Baldwin Locomotive Works and the Lima-Hamilton Corporation. The merger became effective November 30, 1950 with the creation of the Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Corporation. No new orders were taken for the Lima-Hamilton line of locomotives. The last Lima-Hamilton diesel delivered was PRR 5683, a 2500 hp transfer unit, in September 1951.

Brian Rasmussen posted
PRR 5676 was built by "Lima - Hamilton" (Lima Ohio) in May-July 1950, a couple months before the BLH reorganization.
PRR Class LS-25. Retired May 1965.
Craig Garver Collection, Public Domain

After the locomotive business died, they retooled to build cranes and shovels.

Steve Robinson posted 13 photos with the comment: "LIMA Crane & Shovel Photo's
There is no specific information on the photos except that they date from the mid-1950s to the mid 1960s."

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Amos Clifford shared
M4 production in Lima Locomotive Works, Lima, Ohio, 1942
Tom Davidson Note that Lima did not build M4 tanks. They built the variant M4A1, which had a monolithic cast, contoured, curved hull instead of the angular welded hull. Lima was the first builder to get its production line in operation, and built the very first Sherman, which was named “Michael” in honor of Micheal Dewar, head of the British Tank Commission. “Michael” was completed in January, 1942, and still exists at the tank museum in Bovington.
Charles Michael Bork Sad to say this tank did not stand a chance against the German tanks.
Amos Clifford The sheer numbers did but not one on one.
[To this day, Lima builds tanks for America. ALCO was building Big Boys and tanks during the war. [Ian Hollida and Mark Locke comments on a post]]

ClassicStreamliners
[The web page has a history and more photos. Lima transitioned from Shays to "Super Power" 2-8-4 Berkshire locomotives developed in the 1920s. NKP was one of the customers of these high horsepower freight engines that could run fast.]

Donal Matson posted
The last steam trains coming out of Lima, Ohio.
Mark Locke Not even close, the last Shay was Western Maryland #6, now at Cass, built in 1945. The last steam locomotive built by Lima was Nickel Plate 2-8-4 #779. It is on display in Lima, Ohio.
Donald Matson I get a chance I’ll take a few photos of #779. I live a few miles from Lima.
Dennis DeBruler Donald Matson what are the street names for an intersection close to the #777 display?
[#779 was built in 1949. [ClassicStreamliners]]

Mike Lusher posted
A Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company H-8 Allegheny being constructed at the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio. This view shows how massive the firebox was.

Jim Kreider posted 14 photos with the comment:

We are focused in this group on the Berkshire steam locomotives built for the NKP, and their details and characteristics which also apply to their brethren of like design, and to the SuperPower era of steam locomotive design in general. Somewhere along the line I wondered where these magnificent machines were created, at least in Lima, and fortunately I had the opportunity to find out. Over about a ten year period from the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties I visited what remained of the hallowed halls and offices of the Lima Locomotive Works on about a half-dozen occasions. The first time was with my good friend Bob Keller who was also a member of the 765 crew and had worked at Lima in the stores department in his younger days. The stores department was were all the goodies and appliances which appear on a completed locomotive are received, stored, and distributed so that they magically appear on the erecting shop floor when needed. Bob knew the security people on the plant grounds so we did not have any trouble gaining access. Some of the buildings, particularly in the tender shop area, were still leased out to businesses. 765 even found a home here for at least a couple of winters.When I was living in Columbus in the mid-nineties, the city of Lima held several concerts in the north machine shop in an effort to raise money to save at least part of “The Loco”. I attended all of them and got to park my car in either the erecting hall or the south machine shop. Alas, their attempts to save any part of the city’s famous landmark were to no avail. Hope the accompanying photos will invoke some visions of the glory days. And of course let’s not forget all the Shays that were built at Lima.

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William Smith posted
This photograph, from a 4x5 negative, was taken from the inside of the Lake Erie and Western Railroad (Nickle Plate Road) roundhouse in Lima, Ohio. On the turntable is NKP road number 500 (renumbered 950 in 1956) a H-5a, 2-8-2 built in 1917. She was the first in an order of ten locomotives from The Lima Locomotive Works which can be seen at the rear of this photograph.  This engine was scraped in 1962.

 

Richard Shulby commented on William's post
GREAT PHOTO! Thanks for posting! It might be worthy to note that this roundhouse was the 2nd in this location, built in 1918 under the auspices of the USRA when the LE&W was under control of the NYC (1900-1922) before being sold to the NKP. The first roundhouse faced north, and this view is to the south (1950 Sanborn map attached).

(new window) Have you noticed that you don't see obese people in the 1800s and early 1900s? One reason is that processed foods and fast food joints had not been developed. (I was at a Taco Bell last week and they had a $5 box of food whose calorie count was more than my daily allotment of 1200!) And there were no TVs and video games to cause one to sit for hours. But another reason for little obesity was that work was WORK. That is, it was physical exercise.


A new plant was built to the southwest that still builds/refurbishes military vehicles even if the military doesn't need them.