Nostalgia & History > Critter Hunt #5, Aurora

The side of the cab of this critter is lettered:
  Baldwin Lima Hamilton
   Austin Western Plant
          Aurora, Ill.

The location of the photos is in eastern Aurora near the CB&Q West Eola Tower.
Photo 1. May 15, 1963
Photo 2. September 1, 1964

Who made this s critter?  The radiator in the second picture says "Hmilton 8".  BLH made some critters joint with Whitcomb.  The side rods indicate it only has two motors.  That is not a GE cab.  It is not the critter now at the nearby Fox River Trolley Museum. 

Marty Bernard



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/15 23:07 by MartyBernard.

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MartyBernard Wrote:

> The radiator in the second picture says "Hmilton 8". 

You sure?  The last four characters sure look like "COMB" from here.  In this Chuck Zeiler photo, the radiator has been "winterized" with a piece of cardboard, but the top two letters are pretty clearly "WH." 

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4239646

Baldwin owned a controlling stake in Whitcomb beginning in the early 30's, made it a formal division in 1940, and dissolved the division in 1952.  Any remaining industrial locomotive production was done at Eddystone under the BLH nameplate.

Upon closer inspection the radiator does say WHITCOMB.  

Marty Bernard

It's a Whitcomb 45 tonner.

Stanley Jackowski
Valrico, FL