Realizing it was a truly a rare bird (16 units for the NYC circa 1950) from a very minor diesel builder (its only road units)
I can’t be the only model rail ever attracted to it. So the question is whether any importer ever brought models in (i can’t see it in plastic, rare stuff is almost always limited run brass)
Thank you in advance
Looks a lot like an early Alco RS. Lots of those around that might prove to be a workable start to bashing a Lima. Check the wheelbase between trck centers first and overall length. That will tell you how close it really is.
Is this the model you are looking for? Click to enlarge.
Page 26b of MR April 1981 issue
The detailed drawings seem to be on page 76 of MM Jan. 1981 issue.
Lima-Hamilton’s 1200-hp was stated on page 10 of the MR Oct. 2006 issue. It said that JJL Models released a cast resin shell. The detailed drawings can be found on page 122 of RMC’s “Loco 1”.
If I were going to try to build one of the 1200 HP road switcher types as seen in the prototype photo, I would give serious consideration to starting out with a Stewart Baldwin AS-16. The Baldwin hood has the boxy, squared-off shape while the hood of an Alco RS-1 has a curved roof and rounded-off ends. The RS-1 might be closer in truck wheelbase and centers. Maybe it is time for a mass produced Lima switcher in HO? One could be a major step to kitbashing a LRS-1200.
Just to be clear, here is a better-angle view of the thing being discussed:
https://www.railpictures.net/showimage.php?id=233044&key=4699041
Casual viewing of this picture does NOT suggest either an AS-12 or the RS-12s that NYC received as their ‘follow-up’ order (Lima having become part of BLH by that time). I’d think that kitbashing an RS3 (not an RS1) might be a reasonable place to start…
…but on the other hand, the units that got 567 heart transplants don’t seem to have required as large hood bulges as are seen in “DeWitt Geeps” so the proportions might be different…
(The second link contains a view of 6210 by Marty Bernard that shows the conversion from a more visible angle. Note the context… [:)])
http://s3.amazonaws.com/rrpa_photos/43944/nyc6210.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/137327304@N07/28283173626
Note that the long hoods on LT2500s (which I think have been modeled) are not at all like those on the A3714s, so, although I think the transfer locomotives have been done in brass, those would be no help as masters for resin casting, etc.
An Alco RS1 will not work without shortening the frame. The length over coupler faces is 7’1" longer than the Lima LRS1000/1200’s and the truck centers are 8’2" longer. The Baldwin AS16’s will not work either, as their frames are also longer than the Lima units.
Lima_DRSP-5 by Edmund, on Flickr
DRSP-5a “Modified”
Lima_DRSP-5a by Edmund, on Flickr
By 1960 the steam generators had been removed and ballast added for freight service.
Thank You, Ed
Ed, can you gin up a picture that shows the Lima and an Alco RS-3 at the same scale so that people can appreciate the dimensions that would need to be changed?
Unless I’ve misinterpreted Ed’s diagrams, it looks like the frame of the RS-1 would need to be lengthened.
While it’s not a project that holds much interest for me, I can’t see that lengthening or shortening a frame would be all that difficult.
Wayne
Overmod had requested an RS-3 comparison.
The RS-1 has slightly different underpinnings. A 21’8" between inboard axle centers; 31’0" bolster center and 54’11-3/4" between coupler pulling faces.
1" shorter over hood and 1" taller over cab.
Regards, Ed
While in N scale, so probably irrelevant, I see this gentleman started with an RS-3.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/137327304@N07/albums/72157663345709691/
Not even[2c] Cheers, the Bear.[:)]
[D)] My mistake.
Regardless, the need to shorten or lengthen a frame shouldn’t be much of a roadblock for someone wanting to model the Lima loco. If it were me, I’d simply scratchbuild the body shell, too.
Wayne
Thank you very much!
I’d like to thank all the help. My interest comes from being a youngster in northern New Jersey in the Fifties. My dad had fired locomotives for several years to earn money for college and my granddad was a railroad machinist, so being a rail fan was in my young blood. Occasionally, dad would take me shopping with him on Saturday and we’d stop at NYC’s River Division (West Shore) terminal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Shore_Railroad#/media/File:NYCRR_RiverDiv_19671105.png
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Shore_Railroad#/media/File:New_York_City_Railroads_ca_1900.png
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weehawken_Terminal#Railroad_lines
across the Hudson from New York City at Weehawken on the way home. We could even get to the roundhouse, dad would stop at the office, show his brotherhood card and say he wanted to show me around. In those spacious and carefree days, the answer was always “Sure, go ahead”. From what I understand, the sixteen LRS-1200’s were the primary commuter (although some runs went all the way to Albany) and way freight power.
https://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=276543
Heavier freights came in behind cab units. Anyway, the LRS-1200 was a distinctive locomotive and made an impression on me so I’ve always hankered for a model. I’d be willing to pay for brass (even if it had a lousy Seventies-Eighties drive) if anyone had ever imported one and it was available on the secondary market.
