Philip A Ryan Lumber Company 2-8-0 "Consolidation" Locomotives in the USA

Class 2 (Locobase 14708)

Data from DeGolyer, Vol 62, pp. 381; see also the Texas Forestry Museum's Tram & Railroad Database entry on the Ryan Lumber Company at [] and the Forest History Society's article on the Urania Lumber Company at [] . Works number was 52131 in August 1919.

The specs gave fair warning of what awaited this small logging Consolidation. Rails on the 10 miles (16 km) of tram road weighed no more than 35 or 40 lb/yard (17.5-20 kg/metre). Each set of rails was laid on 16 ties on top of no ballast. Despite those limitations, Baldwin appears to have busted through its weight estimates. Pencilled editions show an adhesion weight of 89,945 lb (40,798 kg) and overall weight of 102,303 lb (46,404 kg).

The lumber company was opened in 1916 in Lufkin, Angelina County, Texas. Its hardwood mill handled oak, ash, hickory, and the various gum trees at the rate of 40,000-50,000 feet (12,192-15,240 metres) per day. By 1930, it was all over and the sawmill closed.

The 2 was sold in 1923 to the Natchez, Urania & Ruston, a tap line that extended from Iron Mountain at Urania, La into the woods for about 14 miles (22.5 km). The railroad itself, according to the ICC, had a mainline of only 5 miles between Urania and Olla.

The records held by the FHS show that the Urania Lumber Company was no "cut over and cut out" operation. According to the FHS, the ULC was incorporated in the late nineteenth century and gained " a solid reputation in the United States as one of the earliest lumber enterprises to incorporate reforestation and sustained-yield forestry measures in its forest management policy. Under the leadership of [Henry] Hardtner, the company began fostering forestry research in the 1910s, cementing ties with Yale's forestry school and with the U.S. Forest Service that would last for decades."

The 2 found a home on the NU&R, remaining in service for decades.