Bonhomie Southwestern 2-6-2 "Prairie" Locomotives in the USA

Class 4 (Locobase 14308)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 52, p. 350. See also Mississippi Rails website's description at [] . (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 25 October 2021 email supplying the fuel quantity.) Works number was 43121 in March 1916.

This logging road was chartered in August 1910 by Mississippi's Tatum Lumber Company. Anchored on the northern end at Hattiesburg, the line angled south to Okahola, then west to Columbia for a total of 35 miles (56.4 km). Mississippi Rails reports two conditions of note in the charter: Finish the road in five years and the road was "not required to operate freight and passenger trains on Sundays, except in emergencies, in the 'promotion of the Christian religion.'".

The Baldwin spec stated that the firebox of this wood-burning logging Prairie was to be placed on top of the frames (perhaps for clearance reasons?). The tender carried four cords of wood. Rail weights on the road were given as 56 lb/yard (28 kg/metre), maximum grades rose at 3%, and the line curved at a relatively gentle 14 degrees (radius of 410 feet/125 metres).