Class 14 (Locobase 14265)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Vol 62, p. 343+ and Vol 73, pp. 283+. (Many thanks to Chris Hohl's 4 August 2015 email providing the tender's wood capacity and his comments on Harbeson company numbers prompted a review of several entries.) Works numbers were 52795-52796 in January 1920 and 57915 in July 1924.

Locobase 14262 shows the first three wood-burning logging Prairies that went to DeFuniak Springs, Fla in 1916 to work for the WB Harbeson Lumber Company. The next trio, which arrived in 1920, repeated the design, but trailed a heavier tender with the same 3-cord wood capacity and put a little more weight on the drivers. The 1924 engine (#11) also followed the pattern, but had a still large tender with 4 cords of wood (about 9,200 lb/4,173 kg of pine fuel).

Their assignment to Bagdad Land & Lumber Company underscored their primary service of supplying a 200,000 foot capacity mill in Bagdad, Fla.. Over the next decade, BL&LC increased the mill capacity to 300,000 feet.

The four remained with W B Harbeson through its 1936 reorganization as West Florida Lumber. 14-15 were later renumbered 128-129 by Harbeson.

Class 17 (Locobase 14266)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 62, p. 343+. (Many thanks to Chris Hohl's 4 August 2015 email providing the tender's wood capacity and his comments on Harbeson company numbers prompted a review of several entries.) Works number was 52920 in January 1920.

Locobase 14265 shows the three 1920 logging Prairie wood-burners that succeeded the earlier engines. This oil-burner repeated the design except for trailing a heavier tender that carried oil. It too was owned by W B Harbeson and served the Bagdad (Fla) mill.

The 17 was later sold to the St Joe Lumber & Export Company, which it served until being scrapped, probably in 1950.

Class 7 (Locobase 12915)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 28, p. 233 . See also Sig Unander, "Oregon History: The Unique Northwest Legacy of Simon Benson", in 1859: Oregon's Magazine (24 April 2018) at [], last accessed 30 April 2022Works number was 27379 in in January 1906.

A wood-burning logging Prairie, the 7 may have not suited the BLC. See Locobase 12916 for notes describing a number of changes to the specs developed for its stablemate #8.

Its tender's racks held two cords of wood, whose combustion generated sparks suppressed by a 16" (406 mm) Radley & Hunter stack.

BL&LC placed its headquarters in Oak Point, Washington. At almost the same time they took delivery of this small Prairie, the company was bought by a group of Wisconsin timbermen who had formed the Wisconsin Logging & Timber Company.

(It's tempting to quote Sig Unander's profile of Simon Benson at considerable length, but one instance of his range and imagination will have to do here. Unander notes that while he logged in Washington State, he built a sawmill in San Diego, California. When the Southern Pacific quoted extremely high rates to ship his logs the 1,000 miles (1,610 km) between his state and Southern California, Benson developed an alternative:

"His solution- build a giant wooden cradle in the river, fill it with 3 million feet of logs, bind them tightly in chains and tow the 800-foot leviathan a thousand miles down coast to San Diego. Skeptics called him crazy, but somehow it worked, and the famous Benson seagoing "cigar" rafts were born."

The WL&T sold the 7 to Weed Lumber in December 1919.

Class 8 (Locobase 12916)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 29, p. 238 . See also Sig Unander, "Oregon History: The Unique Northwest Legacy of Simon Benson", in 1859: Oregon's Magazine (24 April 2018) at [], last accessed 30 April 2022. Works number was 29822 in December 1906.

Slightly larger and rolling on a longer wheelbase than the Benson Logging & Lumbering Company #7 (Locobase 12915), this wood-burning logging Prairie also had slightly longer tubes that added 43 sq ft (4 sq m) to the tube heating surface area. Her tender carried two cords of wood, which mandated a 16" (406 mm) Radley & Hunter stack.

Several months' experience with the 7 generated a series of changes. In general, the builder repeats the comment made in #7's specs: "Give especial attention to construction of boiler and rolling of tubes."

(Locobase notes that this kind of general admonition appeared often in Baldwin's specs. He also suggests that the Philadelphia-Eddystone builder's shortfalls are much more visible to him than other builders because he knows of no other builders' order books that were as fortuitously preserved as those of rescued by Everett DeGolyer.)

A detail they wanted changed was the ash pan damper's rods, revised to allow the damper to clear the truck swing on 35 degree curves (which, Locobase observes, were extremely tight). While they were at it, Baldwin was to make the rods heavier and to secure a good fit of the dampers. [On the 7, "they do not close up ash pan."].

Fuel consumption seemed too high, to some degree because "when eng[ine] is waiting for load they have to put plate over stack, otherwise she burns too freely." Other shortcomings: the "PR's" stuffing box gland broke, so "please strengthen." Change the valve motion to match that of another Baldwin design as the company "considers that it is more easily reversed. Revise motion so designed with leverage so that eng. can be easily handled." (Another comment noted that "both reversing and throttle levers are exceedingly hard to move.")

On the other hand, we find no sign of the frequent demand in logging locomotive specifications to add a leaf or a plate to the springs.

It soon transferred to Benson Timber rails that ran out of Clatskanie, Ore. Wisconsin Logging & Timber eventually owned all of the Benson Timber properties