Burton Swartz Cypress Company 2-6-2 "Prairie" Locomotives in the USA

Class 4 (Locobase 12639)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Vol 52, p.322. See also a description of the 4's history atr [] . (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 18 June 2018 email reporting a missing zero in the tender weight and the tender's fuel capacity.) Works number was 41652 in August 1914 and 51871 in June 1919.

These wood-burning, logging Prairies served this Florida-based cypress harvester for more than 40 years first in Perry then downstate to Copeland. Their relatively large tenders carried four cords of wood.

In 1943, the company changed its name to Lee Cypress Company and in 1947, changed it again to Lee Tidewarter Cypress company. J C Turner in 1958 bought Lee Tidewater.

The 4 was idled by 1962 and soon was sold it in 1963 to F Nelson Blount. The Edaville sold it to a dealer--R L Johnson & George Silcott--who later sold it to John Thompson of Monee, Ill in May 1968. Plans to run a tourist road in conjunction with the Thompson Winery never proved out. Three decades later, the 4 wound up on the Hardin Southern Railroad. Hardin Southern closed in 2005.

After decades in museum service and a steadily deteriorating condition, the 4 was rescued in 2007 by the Wanamaker, Kempton & Southern, located northeast of Reading, Pa. As of 2011, the locomotive was being prepared for restoration.

16's fate after Turner took over is less certain; it may have operated on the Edaville.