The locomotive was used for pulling various passenger and freight trains throughout Wisconsin, until the Chicago and North Western (C&NW) Railroad ended revenue steam operations in 1956.

Jones had plans to use it on the Keweenaw Central Railroad for excursion service alongside Copper Range 2-8-0 No.

175 remains the only surviving C&NW steam locomotive to be equipped with Walschaerts valve gear.

[2][3][4] The R-1s initially had drastically-limited route availabilities, due to their excessive weight and size, so the C&NW had to resort to upgrading their entire rail infrastructure to accommodate them.

[8] While the railroad received larger locomotives after 1908, including the H class 4-8-4 "Northerns", they couldn't replace the R-1s on many routes, due to weight restrictions.

175 was planned to be displayed at the NRM after a shed had been constructed on the property, but for unknown reasons, the locomotive was never moved to the museum.

175 was later sold on December 15, 1960, to the Winona County Historical Society, who had plans to put the locomotive on outdoor static display.

175 from the Winona group out of sentimentality, having watched the locomotive pull iron ore hoppers as a young teenager.

[18] Jones quickly had the R-1 moved from Winona to Calumet, Michigan on the Milwaukee Road (MILW) mainline.

175 to operating condition, and he had to consult with retired C&NW employees and study old blueprints and textbooks for information about the locomotive's mechanics.

[10] Jones collaborated with Fred L. Tonne and Louis S. Keller to create an organization, and he planned to use No.

Afterwards, the Soo Line Railroad abandoned and ripped up the only trackage that connected the plant to the national rail network, and Jones could not afford to remove his two locomotives from the property via truck.

175 the last remaining locomotive to be stored by the Quincy plant, which was then owned by the National Park Service (NPS).

Around the same time, the Langlade County Historical Society of Antigo, Wisconsin made Mineral Range an offer to purchase No.

In 2017, Mineral Range Inc. entered negotiations with the Steam Railroading Institute (SRI), and they made an offer to sell No.

[22] The SRI agreed to purchase the locomotive, and they subsequently made plans to restore and operate the R-1 alongside Pere Marquette 2-8-4 "Berkshire" No.

175, being a C&NW locomotive, had operated for a number of times in the Upper Peninsula, so it would be more applicable for state grants, and many of its smaller components were still in good condition, as a result of being stored indoors.

[22][a] On June 5, the trucks carrying the components arrived at the SRI's location in Owosso, Michigan, and the scattered parts were publicly displayed for one week.

[22][24] The boiler was lifted off of one of the trucks and onto the rails, where it was scraped, cleaned, painted, and marked to be inspected and to undergo an ultrasonic test.

[23] With the project estimated to cost $1 million to complete, the SRI applied for a large grant to be donated from the state of Michigan.

[23][25] In August 2022, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) administered a federal Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant to be donated to the SRI, and the SRI subsequently launched a fundraising campaign to raise $400,000 to meet the matching requirement.