[2] Following construction, it was disassembled and hauled by the ship Herald of the Morning around Cape Horn to California, then up the rivers aboard the schooner Artful Dodger, arriving in Sacramento on October 6, 1863.

[8][9][10] It was Central Pacific's first locomotive and it is named in honor of the road's first president and ex-California governor, Leland Stanford.

[11] The locomotive was withdrawn from mainline service in 1873, and was rebuilt in 1878 with larger cylinders and an increased boiler pressure, which increased its tractive effort to 11,081 pounds-force (49,290 N), as well as being outfitted with a water pump for extinguishing lineside fires.

[1][3][5][12] The locomotive was disassembled and stored during World War II but was returned to display at the university after reassembly by retired Southern Pacific engineer Billy Jones.

In the 1960s, the university needed the space occupied by the engine for other uses, so the engine was removed and loaned in 1963 to the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society,[3][13] which had been in the process of collecting historic locomotives and rolling stock to be displayed in what would ultimately become the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.