Tavares & Gulf / Tremont & Gulf 2-6-2 "Prairie" Locomotives in the USA

Class 100 (Locobase 14341)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 53, p. 326. See also Gregg Turner, A Short History of Florida Railroads (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2003), p. 113. Works number was 42916 in February 1916.

The "Tug & Grunt" came into being in the mid-1880s as fruit and produce growers established the "Golden Triangle" in central Florida. Beginning in Tavares, about 25 miles (41 km) northwest of Orlando, the line extended through Monteverde to Clermont (37 miles away) by 1887. After emerging from an 1892 receiveship, the T&G resumed construction in a reoriented direction beginning at Waits Junction and reached Winter Garden and Ocoee in 1914. The lightly built line used 40 lb/yard (20 kg/metre) rail, included some 3 1/2% grades and 14-degree curves.

Tavares's Lake County had entered a boom period in agriculture and an April 1913 "Resolution of the Tavares Board of Trade" (cited in US House of Representatives Document 514, 63rd Congress, 2nd Session, p. 34) argued for a 60-foot (18.3 m) wide, 6-foot deep (1.8 m) canal rather than the planned 30-foot-wide (9.15 m) channel. The resolution summarized the variety of bustling commerce around Lake Apopka. The T&G's totals of "fruits, vegetables and naval stores" logged at Tavares for which the line received $7,573.89 for incoming freight and $1,801.46 in forwarding and outgoing freight:

Oranges boxes.. 94,221

Lettuce hampers.. 21,764

Cabbage crates.. 795

Naval stores barrels.. 4,679

Cucumbers hampers.. 24,347

Squash crates.. 776

Potatoes barrels.. 1,479

Tomatoes crates.. 8,568

Watermelons cars.. 82

This mixed-service wood-burning Prairie entered service soon after that milestone was achieved. It was converted to coal burning in 1922.

In 1926, the Seaboard Air Line bought the T&G, but operated it as an independent company for decades afterward.

Class 16 (Locobase 12891)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Vol 28, p. 199 Works number was 27261 in January 1906.

See Locobase 12567 for a capsule description of the T&G.

Virtually identical to the northwest logger described in Locobase 12792, the T&G engine differed in burning soft coal. It cost the railroad $9,300 in 1904 and arguably earned its keep by serving the T&G and Tremont Lumber until it was scrapped in 1950.

Class 21 (Locobase 13045)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Vol 29, p. 295. Works number was 31867 in October 1907.

Other than a slightly larger tender, this was the standard Baldwin logging Prairie of the day. Its career resembled those of most of its sisters as it served several companies in succession.

In 1921, the 5 was sold to Big Sandy Lumber and later to Grubbs Lumber for a year. Still not having traversed every last rail of logging road, the 21 journeyed in September 1922 to Ingham Burnett Lumber in Allison, Ala. IBL sold the engine to locomotive rebuilder/reseller Birmingham Rail & Locomotive in March 1926. The 21 languished in the BR & L lot for years until Atlas Plywood bought it in March 1934 for its Atlantic & Carolina shortline based in Warsaw, NC

Class 55 (Locobase 12893)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 30, p. 227. Works number was 31580 in August 1907.

55 continued a run of newly bought logging Prairies owned by the T&G (Locobases 11507, 12891), each having a different cylinder volume. All rode on 60 lb/yard (30 kg/metre) rail.

Class George (Locobase 11507)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines, 1903, as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Vol 26, p. 232. Works number was 23578 in January 1904. See also Jack M Willis, "Early railroads built for mills: Tremont operations supported by T&G Railroad in NE Louisiana," archived at [], last accessed 25 July 2010.

See Locobase 12567 for a capsule description of the T&G.

According to Willis, the #14 "...handled three scheduled log trains daily to keep the sawmills busy."

Served that railroad until it was sold to the Forest Lumber Company by April 1928.