29 is an SC-3 class 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive, built by ALCO's Pittsburgh Works in 1906 for the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad (LS&I) in Upper Michigan.

29 was sold to the Marquette and Huron Mountain tourist railroad, where it spent several years in storage alongside other LS&I steam locomotives.

29 to service in April 1990, and the locomotive pulled the railway's passenger trains between Williams, Arizona and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

In 1902, the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railway (LS&I) authorized to purchase three 2-8-0 locomotives, following a major increase in iron ore train traffic.

29—originally numbered 14—was delivered from the American Locomotive Company's (ALCO) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Works in 1906 at a cost of $15,800.

14 to pull empty hopper cars up a 1.63%-grade to iron ore mines in Negaunee and Ishpeming, Michigan.

14 pulled a loaded iron ore train out of Negaunee before it experienced a major accident; the locomotive and several hoppers toppled down a steep embankment.

[10] In 1924, the LS&I merged with the Munising, Marquette and Southeastern Railway and reorganized as the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad.

29 was one of eleven LS&I 2-8-0 locomotives to be purchased by the newly-formed Marquette and Huron Mountain (M&HM) tourist railroad.

[18] Later, in 1984, the M&HM's owner died, and all of the equipment the railroad owned by that time was sold at an auction on January 14, 1985.

29 was purchased by Steve Mattox of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and he subsequently arranged for the locomotive to be stored at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin.

[18][19][20] Throughout 1989, under the guidance of Max and Thelma Biegert, the Santa Fe Railroad's abandoned 64-mile (103 km) route between Williams, Arizona, and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon was being redeveloped into a tourist operation, called the Grand Canyon Railway (GCR).

[19][20][24] Following some shipping delays caused by the Chicago and North Western, all four locomotives were brought to Williams via flatcar by late August.

29 entered service for GCR on April 26, and it pulled its first train between Williams and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

[20][33] The locomotive subsequently received a major rebuild that took 26,000 hours of labor and cost over $1 million to complete.

29 was modified with a Lempor Exhaust System and a new smokestack to increase its draft and to reduce its back pressure.

[35] In 2006, Max and Thelma Biegert sold GCR to Xanterra Parks and Resorts, and as a result of rising fuel prices and environmental concerns, Xanterra chose to discontinue regular steam operations on GCR in September 2008.

29 pulled most of the steam excursions of that season before taking part in a two-day photo charter, and then it was due to undergo a federally mandated 1,472-day inspection by the end of the year.