Locomotive No. 2: Logging the Big Cypress

Museum Manager Stephanie Long will be exploring the history of the museum’s steam locomotive, known locally as “the Deuce.” Built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, this small locomotive had a long history working for three different logging companies. Here in Collier County, Locomotive No. 2 powered the labor train for the Lee Tidewater Cypress Company deep into the cypress swamps of southwest Florida. Learn about No. 2’s origins, its work in the Big Cypress, its contribution to the war effort in the 1940s, and stories of the workers who waded through deep swamps and rugged terrain to harvest the giant cypress trees.