Named after Madeira-Mamoré engineer George Earl Church, the locomotive helped inaugurate the first part of the line on July 4, 1878.

With construction on the railroad halted due to tropical disease, Coronel Church was abandoned to the rainforest.

[1][2] It would be was rediscovered 34 years later by surveyors acting on behalf of Percival Farquhar, who had secured a government concession to reopen the line.

Some accounts say the locomotive was overgrown with vegetation, while others say it was used as a water tank, hen house, and bakery oven by local villagers.

The story of Coronel Church was the inspiration for Duke the Lost Engine, the 25th book of the Rev.