The A-3170 (LS-1200) is a diesel-electric switcher locomotive built between May 1950 and August 1951, by the Lima-Hamilton Corporation of Lima, Ohio, United States. Lima's original design was the A-3080, a switcher, which became the standard for Lima's designs. A switcher (proposed specification number A-3081) had also been designed at the request of American Rolling Mill Company, but none were built. By changing fuel rack settings, the A-3080 was upgraded to the A-3170 producing from a turbocharged Hamilton T89SA four-stroke, eight cylinder inline diesel engine, a Westinghouse generator and 4 Westinghouse traction motors provided the tractive effort.
Lima-Hamilton did not assign model numbers to their models but referred to them by specification numbers. Model designations such as LS-1200 were a railfan invention. Lima-Hamilton assigned A-3170 as the specification number for this particular unit. The Southern Pacific ordered 60 locomotives but agreed to receive 84 S12s from BLH instead.
Original owners OwnerQuantityRoad NumbersArmco Steel710, E109, E110Baltimore & Ohio Railroad320–329, 340–353Erie Railroad660–665, to Erie Lackawanna in 1960, same numbersChicago River and Indiana Railroad (New York Central Railroad)8406–8411New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad630-639New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate Road)309–312, to Norfolk and Western in 1964, same numbersTerminal Railroad Association of St. Louis1200–1205 (1200 ex Lima-Hamilton demonstrator 1200)Wabash Railroad401–406, 408–411, to Norfolk and Western in 1964, same numbers 69
Preservation Two A-3170's are preserved: ARMCO Steel E-110, the final locomotive produced by Lima- Hamilton, at the Illinois Railway Museum. Baltimore and Ohio 320, at the Whitewater Valley Railroad.
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