This guide has a short history on lima as well as basic information for parts selection and assembly of lima units in-game.

So you want to build a Lima?

Section 0: the Basics (tm)

LIMA: a short history

Lima was a locomotive company, most famous for the Shay line and, of course, introducing the entire concept of Super Power steam that was notable for incorporating a pile of technological improvements and having very high efficiency for the day. Orders started slowing down post-WWII, and Lima (for a time) was convinced that steam could survive with suitable improvements - thus they became the last of the old builders to switch production. In 1947, Lima merge-purchased, or murchased, with General Machinery Corp. out of Hamilton, OH, and became Lima-Hamilton and began diesel development.

ARMCO placed a symbolic order for a 660hp and 1000hp units in 1947, though these were cancelled after; Lima took two years to hammer out and establish the supply system for their diesels in the mother of all crash programs, with Hamilton supplying arguably the best first-attempt engine out of all the other manufacturers that was basically trouble free out of the gate, if small for its size. 1949 saw the launching of the first offerings, featuring switchers, road switchers, "road switchers" and transfer units - Lima planned to catalog a proper road unit once their 3200hp Free Piston Turbine came online in the early 50s. You can probably guess how that went.

Production ran two years, with Baldwin-Westinghouse management semi-panicking due to the disasterous 547 program and wanting to diversify (so they bought another locomotive company.... for the shovels. Good thinking, baldwin.) leading to the cessation of production of Lima-designed units in late December, 1951 - a PRR LS-25 was the last unit out of the shops.

Engines and Mechanicals

The heart of the Lima diesel is the Hamilton engine - in production this was offered as a turboed-by-default form, with an intercooler, in either inline eight or inline six forms.

• T-69-SA - for Turbo, 6 cylinders, 9 for model number (an updated 68SA) and the SA for Single Acting (hamilton made OP engines at one point) Made 660-800 horsepower for traction.
• T-89-SA - Turbo, 8 cyl, 9 code, single acting. Made 1000-1200 horsepower for traction.

Hamilton made other engines - however the turbocharged versions were more expensive, so they were largely exclusive to locomotive use bar the odd enterprising crane buyer who wanted the Big Engine. Otherwise, the T-89-SA was the more common of the two as buyers favored high horsepower power.

Electricals

Westinghouse, of course, was the provider of choice. Switchers universally used the 362 series traction motors, and the road-capable units above 250hp per motor i.e. the LT, were fitted with the 370 series traction motors. Instrumentation, throttle equipment and control were also westinghouse-provided; the governor was a Woodward unit, and Lima offered the ability to MU with either ALCo-GE or EMD as an option - there's a nonzero chance that provisions for both could be had. All units used a Westinghouse 499 series generator with an integrated blower. Curiously, all units also had fully electrical accessories - a dedicated generator off the traction generator assembly provided power for the radiator fans, the traction motor blowers and, on the two transfer units that featured them, the dynamic brake grid blowers.

Section 1: Switchers

Refer to here for cabin pictures and a description of switcher cabins, and early floor-mounted instrumentation. Refer to about halfway down here for the wall-mount manual location and gauge information. Another photo of the wall mount stand (albeit in an RS-12 - still Lima purchased equipment however) can be seen here. Sorry, there's not a lot of material on these - they were late late production only, like, second half of 1951 late production only. The only photos we have of wall stands are those in the manuals and the pictures of Baldwin-commandeered equipment in the NYC RS-12s.

LS-660

A semi-fictional unit. See LS-660 - refer to the LS-750 chart for modelling information.

LS-750

The only currently running survivor and, ironically, Lima's lowest production diesel class.

Component	Model Equivalent
Base model	Use the LS-1000 model in Grove's pack; all LS-750s rode on the LS-1000 frame.
Trucks	Use the AAR A in Monk's pack. The Blunt truck is interchangeable, but was not offered.
Engine sounds	Any turbocharged inline six. The 539T and 606SC are valid but the 6-251 is recommended.
Gauge cluster	All LS-750s use the floor stand.
Control Stand	XM-781 with 6SL brake equipment

LS-1000

Technically the only other running Lima, though it's undergoing mechanical restoration at the moment. More popular than the 750.

Component	Model Equivalent
Base model	Use the LS-1000 model in Laz's pack.
Trucks	Use the AAR A in Monk's pack. Bolster shared with Blunt truck, but not offered.
Engine sounds	The current main suggestion is the Cigelski A8C22, as it is a high speed eight cylinder of similar characteristics. The 8-251B is theoretically close as well but conflits with ALCo power sounds. The BLW 608A is another available option, but ran at much slower speeds.
Gauge cluster	All LS-1000s use the floor stand.
Control Stand	XM-781 with 6SL brake equipment

LS-800

No survivors - the third and fourth Lima survivors are another LS-1000 and an LS-1200, which is being used for parts. Early production LS-800s used the floor stand instrumentation. See Late Production Switchers for the wall mount stand.

Component	Model Equivalent
Base Model	Use the LS-800 model in Grove's pack
Trucks	AAR A in Monk's pack. Bolster shared with Blunt truck, but not offered.
Engine Sounds	Any turbocharged inline six. The 539T and 606SC are valid but the 6-251 is recommended.
Gauge cluster	Early and mid production LS-800s continued to use the floor stand. Late used the wall stand.
Control Stand	XM-781 with 6SL brake equipment

LS-1200

One survives... strangely enough, it's on Blunt trucks. Why? Well, I called John Hillman who owns it and lo and behold, "that's how it was when i got it". Good stuff. Turns out the bolsters are interchangeable.

Component	Model Equivalent
Base Model	LS-1000 model, in Grove's pack
Trucks	AAR A in Monk's pack. Blunt truck fits but wasn't offered.
Engine Sounds	The current main suggestion is the Cigelski A8C22, as it is a high speed eight cylinder of similar characteristics. The 8-251B is theoretically close as well but conflits with ALCo power sounds. The BLW 608A is another available option, but ran at much slower speeds.
Gauge cluster	Early production and mid production LS-1200s used the floor stand - the survivor has a floor stand, in fact. Late was wall-mounted.
Control Stand	XM-781 with 6SL brake equipment.

Section 2: Roadswitchers

Refer to here for cabin information.

LRS-800

A curiosity - none were ordered before Baldwin took over. Functionally identical to the LRS-1200 but with an I6 instead of an I8. Same carbody.

LRS-1200

hoh boy the NYC loved these things apparently - they were in revenue service well into the PC days.

Component	Model Equivalent
Base Model	LRS-1200 model, Grove's pack
Trucks	AAR B Westinghouse 40inch - as these used 40 inch wheels driven by 362 motors.
Engine Sounds	The current main suggestion is the Cigelski A8C22. The 8-251 or 608A are also valid picks. Some units were repowered with 12-567C engines.
Gauge cluster	All produced LRSes used the floor stand - however Lima-purchased wall stands for the second batch NYC ordered which Baldwin used for RS-12s and shutting down Lima locomotive production.
Control Stand	XM-781 with 6SL brake equipment. Repowered units received an EMD Composite stand.

Section 3: Transfers

Refer to here for cab interior information.

the biggus chungus... the magnus bungus... big Beautiful baby... big baby boy...

LT-1600

We don't have a model yet - the carbody is modified from the production variant, and the traction motor blowers are mounted forward of the radiator compartments with discreet filtered intakes. Offered with Commonwealth C or A-1-A trucks.

LT-2400/LT-2500/LS-25/LS-25M

theyre all the same locomotive don't worry no really theyre literally the exact same thing. LS-25M was PRR's designation for LS-25's equipped with MU.

Component	Model Equivalent
Base Model	LS-25, Grove's pack
Trucks	Either the Commonwealth C or Commonwealth A-1-A. Likely would use the Long variant. Grove's pack.
Engine Sounds	The current main suggestion is the Cigelski A8C22. The 8-251 or 608A are also valid picks. Dual prime mover.
Gauge cluster	Transfer wall stand - it has it's own model due to the DPU nature.
Control Stand	XM-781 with 24RL brake equipment, mounted to the front of the operator - use the 6SL stand until the 24RL is available.

Section 4: Other Stuff I Probably Forgot

MU Socketry

Lima exclusively used the Pyle National angled socket for all of their MU applications, as far as I'm aware. This angled plug is available in Grove's Propper Trains Parts Pack. Refer to here for a sorta-kinda-mostly comprehensive guide to MU locations and styles.

For the switchers, options were available to interface with both ALCo-GE or EMD equipment. Plugs could be mounted on either just the rear or on both sides if the customer chose to equip a unit so.

For the road switchers, all units were only equipped with MU on the rear from the factory according to the NYC roster book. A number received retrofits for front MU ability, going off photos. However, it stands to reason that units could be ordered without it entirely or with sockets at both ends.

For the transfers, the above album makes a mention of 74v accessory sockets; this is incorrect. Those are the loop cable receptacles for the dynamic brakes. All LS-25s produced with MU received receptacles at both ends.