This Prairie type (2-6-2) locomotive was built in 1912 as wood burning #101 for the Industrial Lumber Co., in Elizabeth, LA, by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, PA.
The locomotive has a 25’ 3” engine wheelbase and 10’ driver wheelbase. Weighing 107,800 lbs, 77,000 lbs on its 44” drivers with Walschaert valve gear, 16” x 24” cylinders, a 14.4
sq ft grate, 92.5 sq ft firebox and total heating surface of
1,607 sq ft, it operated at a boiler pressure of 180 psi delivering 21,364 lbs tractive effort. The tender weighed 60,000 lbs light and had a capacity of 3,000 gallons of water and 3 cords of wood.
In 1907, after buying tens of thousands of acres of pine
forest, the Industrial Lumber Company built a mill to harvest the timber and a complete town to supply the mill in
Elizabeth. The company already owned two mills in nearby Oakdale and one in Vinton, and the three were linked by the company built railroad, with Elizabeth serving as headquarters. Industrial Lumber ended its mill operations in 1940 and #101 was sold to the Gulf Refining Co., in
Beaumont, TX.
#101 worked at Beaumont until 1947 when it returned to Elizabeth to work for the Calasieu Paper Co., as #5. At some point, the engine was converted to burn oil. In 1964, it was sold to C. W. Witbeck in Amite, LA, and then to Alex Huff also in Amite, LA. Huff sold #5 to the dealer Arthur LeSalle, who then sold it to Charles R. Wood for the Gaslight Village amusement park in Lake George, NY, in 1974.
#5 is now on display at the entrance to the Ameristar Casino in Kansas City, KS, smothered in strings of fairy lights!
