The steam log hauler was not intended for use on rails, but nevertheless was a locomotive in its own right. Real "trains" consisting up to 14 or 16 sleds loaded with logs or forest products were handled regularly by these engines. It was adapted to all northern climates where snow and ice lasted long enough to get the logs out of the woods. Limited use was made of the engines in the summer by substituting wheels in front instead of the runners.

The standard Phoenix carried 175 lb. boiler pressure and had two vertical 6 in. x 8 in. cylinders on each side. The caterpillar treads of one side were driven independently of the other so that no differential was necessary. The machine was rated at 100 h.p. at 8 m.p.h. This was the average loaded speed, although a maximum of 12 m.p.h. could be attained; and at this speed with the four cylinders exhausting one would think the engine was making sixty miles an hour.

An iced road was regularly maintained for these engines, and with 14 sleds about 100,000 feet of lumber could be hauled in one trip. The crew consisted of a chauffeur who steered the engine and an engineer, fireman, and brakeman. At points on the roadway where steep descending grades occurred, hay was stored: the brakeman's duty was to throw hay under the runners increasing the resistance of the sleds toprevent the train from overrunning the engine.

All told the Phoenix people built about 200 of their steam log haulers; and in their heyday these engines could be found at work in remote parts of the world, such as Russia and Alaska. In later years the company experimented with a gasoline tractor on caterpillar treads, and a few were made and sold. No further development was made for apparently the Phoenix concern did not foresee what possiblities there were in a mechanism of this kind; 1925 saw the end of this firm.