Lima-Hamilton Diesels

[Typewriters]

I have noted over the past several weeks that some of the older locomotive manufacturers' forums here -- specifically this one, and the F-M one -- are kind of quiet. I wondered if this was because little new was being printed.

So I took care of that. I've put up a post showing and explaining some of the Lima-Hamilton archival material I have. There are descriptions of some of the equipment, comparisons of different models, some never before revealed facts, and even a mini-catechism of Lima-Hamilton operators' manuals that will point future collectors and researchers right at what they need to know when looking at, or for, one of these manuals.

http://railroadlocomotives.blogspot.com ... tives.html

You can either post comments on the blog, or respond here. I'll look at both. We're particularly interested in the throttle control, so if you have ideas on that (cough, cough, Whitewater Valley, cough cough) then please let us know.

-Will Davis

[Allen Hazen]

On the off chance that there is someone following this forum who doesn't already know about the Davis blog--
CHECK THIS OUT!
Will Davis (& his brother) regularly provide the sort of nitty-gritty technical details we always HOPE for in locomotive histories, and seldom get from the commercial rail fan press.

[MEC407]

Great stuff, Will!

[Typewriters]

Thanks, guys - glad you enjoyed it.

-Will Davis

[Allen Hazen]

(Also posted directly to the Locomotive Enthusiasts site.)

The fact that the Hamilton engine was intercooled from the time of its first locomotive application is interesting. It is very early for intercooling: Alco, I think, introduced intercoolers on the 251 engine in the mid-1950s, and English Electric (in Britain: builder of the engines for about half of British Rail's diesel locomotives) also, I think, added them to its diesel engine design as part of a mid or late 1950s upgrade.
The Wikipedia (o.k., there are some sources less reliable than rail-fan scholarship!) article on Diesel Engines has a timeline, mentioning the development of intercooling (charge cooling) in 1944, by a German company. Hamilton seems to have been a VERY early user of this technology in the U.S.

(Sorry to be slow in commenting: your post has a LOT of information in it to digest!)

[Pneudyne]

The book “Diesel-Electric Locomotive Handbook Electrical Equipment” by George F. McGowan has some information about the Lima Hamilton throttle sequence converter. I have attached scans of the pertinent pages.

It would appear that the sequence converter was a relay matrix (or other device) that converted the standard 8-notch sequence into a somewhat different output to suit the Lima-Hamilton engine.

The Lima-Hamilton throttle pattern was:

Notch 1: No solenoids energized
Notch 2: AV
Notch 3: CV
Notch 4: AV + CV
Notch 5: BV
Notch 6: AV + BV
Notch 7: AV + BV +CV + DV
Notch 8: AV + BV + CV

So it differed from standard in respect of notches 5, 6 and 7. But not only that, assuming that the electro-hydraulic speed control variant of the Woodward PG governor was used, the relative speed-setting solenoid movements could also have been different to standard, as this governor allowed quite a range of adjustment for each solenoid. If we knew the Lima-Hamilton engine speed sequence, we could probably work back to the solenoid settings.

I can think of one or two other locomotives that had broadly similar throttle sequencing devices, but these are non-North American examples that I should imagine are off-topic here.

Cheers,

McGowan p.197.jpg

McGowan p.199.jpg

McGowan fp.iii,iv.jpg