2-6-2 "Prairie" Steam Locomotives in the USA

Class 23 (Locobase 16650)

Data from Alco order A-4122-A, code word Amenuisant, dated January 6, 1910.. (Thanks to Jonathon Van Aken for his 6 October 2023 email supplying copies of the orginal Alco specs as well as extensive details on the 23's career.) Works number was 47980 in June 1910.

This logging Prairie was based on Alco-Pittsburgh 45582 built for the Menominee Bay Shore Lumber Company's Soperton 101 (Locobase 15050) except for the larger tender. The tender's fuel capacity was measured at either eight tons of coal or 3 1/2 cords of wood. As delivered, the grate was set up for coal burning, but the specs advised "[L]oose strips of steel plate to be furnished so that same may be placed lengthwise of firebox when it is necessary to use wood fuel." A "very short" squat, spark-arresting stack, Van Aken noted, was installed "presumably because it was also set up to burn cords of wood."

The PLC listed the 23's steam efficiency as 84.4%.

Van Aken's history describes a dramatic scene on Potlatch Lumber Company rails in 1914. He quotes a well-written account that llustrates the perils of northwest logging. in the early years of the 20th Century.

"In 1914 there was a fire relatively close to Bovill, ID, and #23 was involved in heroics: "As the fire bore down on Camp 8 and Slabtown, a train of flatcars was assembled behind locomotive #23. People loaded and were covered with wet blankets to protect against the heat and flames, and engineer Odin Tarbox highballed. Leaving Slabtown, fireman Dick "Red" Murphy saw trees across the tracks and wanted to jump, but Tarbox ordered him to stay and "feed that firebox." Tarbox opened the throttle and crashed through the barriers, making it to Bovill. More women and children, with quickly gathered personal belongings, climbed aboard and left the train for safety at Potlatch. After delivering his train of refugees Tarbox returned to Bovill in the battered #23 with a crew of reinforcements to fight the fire." Later it is said "The fire destroyed the homes at Slabtown and others in the area and some livestock perished, but no human lives were lost."

Converted to an oil-burner during World War II and known as "Skidoo", the 23 worked for the PLC for 40 years. "Its last trip in 1950", writes Van Aken, "saw it take a train of logs from Bovill to the Potlatch mill, but upon return to Bovill it was promptly cut up."