Brown Paper Company 2-6-2 "Prairie" Locomotives in the USA


Class Details by Steve Llanso of Sweat House Media

Class 3 (Locobase 15488)

Data from DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Baldwin Specifications, Vol 80, pp. 188+. See also "

Administration building at Brown Paper Mill in West Monroe Louisiana" in the Louisiana digital library at [link] and Workers on the Federal Writers Project, Louisiana; a Guide to the State (Baton Rouge, La: Lousiana Library Commission, 1941), p. 484. Works number was 60295 in December 1927.

A standard logging Prairie from Baldwin differing from several others only in the use of oil fuel. One odd cosmetic note: the stack was to be "shortened to line up with dome and sand box."

The mill it served in West Monroe, La was "vast" according to one source, but not very well placed as it turned out. The great flood of 1927 inundated the complex; five years later in 1932, the facility was submerged again. Yet it survived and a 1940 photograph (archived in the Louisiana digital library) shows the administration building to be a long, low, gracefully styled building.

The Louisiana guide described the Brown complex in 1941as "one of the largest sulphate pulp, board, and paper mills in the world." The guide credited the company with a "complete reforestation department, planting thousands of pines every year." The employees and their families could swim in the pool and conduct "community activities" in the "spacious" gymnasium.

Brown would later be prized by Olin-Matheson for its output of brown paper bags and corrugated cardboard and was bought in 1955.

Principal Dimensions by Steve Llanso of Middle Run Media
Class3
Locobase ID15488
RailroadBrown Paper Company
CountryUSA
Whyte2-6-2
Number in Class1
Road Numbers3
GaugeStd
Number Built1
BuilderBaldwin
Year1927
Valve GearWalschaert
Locomotive Length and Weight
Driver Wheelbase (ft / m)9 / 2.74
Engine Wheelbase (ft / m)24.50 / 7.47
Ratio of driving wheelbase to overall engine wheelbase 0.37
Overall Wheelbase (engine & tender) (ft / m)42.43 / 12.93
Axle Loading (Maximum Weight per Axle) (lbs / kg)
Weight on Drivers (lbs / kg)82,000 / 37,195
Engine Weight (lbs / kg)104,000 / 47,174
Tender Loaded Weight (lbs / kg)71,000 / 32,205
Total Engine and Tender Weight (lbs / kg)175,000 / 79,379
Tender Water Capacity (gals / ML)4000 / 15.15
Tender Fuel Capacity (oil/coal) (gals/tons / Liters/MT)1800 / 6813
Minimum weight of rail (calculated) (lb/yd / kg/m)46 / 23
Geometry Relating to Tractive Effort
Driver Diameter (in / mm)46 / 1168
Boiler Pressure (psi / kPa)180 / 1240
High Pressure Cylinders (dia x stroke) (in / mm)16" x 24" / 406x610
Tractive Effort (lbs / kg)20,435 / 9269.17
Factor of Adhesion (Weight on Drivers/Tractive Effort) 4.01
Heating Ability
Tubes (number - dia) (in / mm)218 - 2" / 51
Flues (number - dia) (in / mm)
Flue/Tube length (ft / m)12.75 / 3.89
Firebox Area (sq ft / m2)83 / 7.71
Grate Area (sq ft / m2)16.20 / 1.51
Evaporative Heating Surface (sq ft / m2)1529 / 142.10
Superheating Surface (sq ft / m2)
Combined Heating Surface (sq ft / m2)1529 / 142.10
Evaporative Heating Surface/Cylinder Volume273.52
Computations Relating to Power Output (More Information)
Robert LeMassena's Power Computation2916
Same as above plus superheater percentage2916
Same as above but substitute firebox area for grate area14,940
Power L14799
Power MT387.07

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