Presently, Skookum is owned by Chris Baldo, and it is being used to run on occasion for the Niles Canyon Railway.

[1][2] The Little River Railroad's president, Colonel W. B. Townsend, wanted his company to experiment with a locomotive that would be light enough to negotiate light-weight rails and tight curves while being powerful enough to pull longer trains than an average steam engine of the time.

[1][2][4] The Whitney Logging Company assigned Skookum to work for its rail subsidiary, the Columbia River Belt Line Railway.

[2] The positive press led to Baldwin receiving additional orders for nearly 50 other Mallet engines for other logging companies in the coming years.

[1][2] Skookum continued in service the CRBL until 1920, when it was sold to the Larkin-Green Lumber Company, who was also in Blind Slough.

[4] They quickly sold the engine to the Carlisle-Pennell Lumber Company of Onalaska, Washington, who removed the name "Skookum" and added the number 7, before it was placed into service there.

[4] During its time there, the locomotive was rebuilt with additional handrails on the pilot deck, and the air pump was relocated to the front of the smokebox door.

[1][6][7] The crews dropped the fire, came off and examined the situation, and they felt the Mallet seemed stable enough to remain still, so they left it and waited until the next morning to re-rail it, using the company's ALCO 2-6-2 engine.

[1] Despite the locomotive receiving minimal damage from hitting the soft ground and a muddy creek bed, the crews saw no easy way to move it upright onto the rails.

[4][6] Morrow subsequently co-founded a group alongside other rail fans, called the Puget Sound Railway Historical Association, in dedication of bringing No.

[4][8] In the summer of 1960, the process of moving the locomotive out of the woods began, but since the rails had been ripped up years prior, and with roadways not being located close by, Morrow and his fellow PSRHA members had to disassemble No.

7's boiler and frame had been attached to each other since the 1909 construction date, and the PSRHA members struggled to have them separated with the rusty bolts locking them together.

[1] Soon, the boiler, frame and tender were separately shipped to PARHA's location in Snoqualmie, Washington, where restoration work to get No.

7 fell under ownership of an estate company, who in turn sold it to a California-based logger, Rohan Coombs.

[1] In 2004, Coombs began experiencing failing health, and he contacted another rail fan, Chris Baldo, about purchasing the engine before his passing.

Years later, on December 15, 2014, the rebuilt boiler was moved to Garibaldi by truck, and the next day, it was lifted and reunited with the frame.

7 was steamed up for the first time in nearly 69 years, and on behalf of Pete Lerro, it took part in a public photo charter alongside McCloud Railway 25 and Polson Logging Co.

On March 2, 2019, Skookum made its official first public run, and several years restoration work on the engine was finally completed.

[6] Some days later, the engine participated in two public photo charters that were sponsored by Trains Magazine, and McCloud 25 and Polson Logging 2 also took part.

7 steamed to Tillamook, its last operation on Oregon soil;[13] the engine and tender were subsequently loaded into separate heavy-haul trucks and transported south to the Niles Canyon Railway.

7 spent the entirety of the 2019 summer months pulling excursion trains on NCRY's trackage alongside their own locomotives.

[15] In September 2020, the NCRY reopened to the public, with Skookum pulling several other excursions in the ensuing months, including a May 1, 2021 run to benefit the restoration of Southern Pacific 1744.