Speed Graphic Film and Video | Inside the Lima Locomotive Works 1923-24 @SpeedGraphicFilmVideo | Uploaded September 2017 | Updated October 2024, 9 minutes ago.
Henry Ford's cameramen visited the Lima Locomotive Works some time in late 1923 or early 1924. The movies they took show the factory at work: milling cylinders, fabricating boilers, assembling frames, and finally, bringing all the pieces together on the vast assembly floor. Towards the end, two brand-new locomotives appear: Illinois Central 2-8-2 No. 1970 and Nickel Plate Road 2-8-2 No. 660, along with the Works' own 2-truck Shay No. 4.
These films were shot by amateur cameramen using available light, so some of the scenes are quite dark. Time had also taken its toll on the nitrate film before it was digitized by the National Archives. Nonetheless, they are a unique record of a locomotive plant at work just before the superpower era.
Henry Ford's cameramen visited the Lima Locomotive Works some time in late 1923 or early 1924. The movies they took show the factory at work: milling cylinders, fabricating boilers, assembling frames, and finally, bringing all the pieces together on the vast assembly floor. Towards the end, two brand-new locomotives appear: Illinois Central 2-8-2 No. 1970 and Nickel Plate Road 2-8-2 No. 660, along with the Works' own 2-truck Shay No. 4.
These films were shot by amateur cameramen using available light, so some of the scenes are quite dark. Time had also taken its toll on the nitrate film before it was digitized by the National Archives. Nonetheless, they are a unique record of a locomotive plant at work just before the superpower era.
