In July 1966, the CB&Q discontinued their steam program, following a rise in insurance costs, a loss of experienced steam-age mechanics, and a change of management.

4960 was extensively reconditioned with multiple modifications to improve its performance and cosmetics, abandoning its original CB&Q livery.

In 2008, GCR's new owner, Xanterra, discontinued steam operations, but they resumed for limited service the following year, with No.

[2][3] The O-1A's were designed with radially stayed fireboxes and feedwater heaters, and their boiler pressure was upgraded to 200 psi (1,379 kPa), resulting in their ability to produce 58,090 lbf (258 kN) of tractive effort.

[9][11][12] After the CB&Q discontinued commercial steam operations in January 1959, the railroad's president, Harry C. Murphy, commissioned for additional steam-powered excursion trains to take place.

4960 was stationed in Savanna, Illinois to pull revenue passenger and freight trains through a flood from the nearby Mississippi River.

[19][20] On July 1 that same year, the locomotive was selected to pull the first annual Schlitz Circus World Museum (CWM) train on the Chicago and North Western (C&NW) mainline between Baraboo and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

[11][20] Louis Menk explored ways to reduce operating costs for the railroad, and in doing so, he decided to shut down the steam program.

[3][11] The SHSW subsequently asked the nearby Mid-Continent Railway Museum (MCRM) of North Freedom, Wisconsin to store No.

[22] The CWM subsequently relied on other locomotives to pull its yearly train instead, beginning with Grand Trunk Western 5629 in 1967.

[25] In 1979, the Lonesome Pine Recreation Corporation, led by Harold Keene, acquired the Southern Railway's abandoned 29.6-mile (48 km) route between Bristol and Moccasin Gap, Virginia, with the intention of turning it into an enterprising tourist operation, called the Bristol and North Western (B&NW) Railroad.

[4][25] With the locomotive being worn out from running for the CB&Q steam program, and the demand to have it immediately placed into service, the B&NW crews had to only operate No.

4960 began pulling the B&NW's three-car tourist trains on summer weekends within the eastern end of the route between Bristol and Benham.

[25] By that time, the B&NW had informed the MCRM they could no longer run the locomotive, and a group from the Quad Cities area expressed interest in leasing it for a higher price.

[34] By the time the move to New Haven was completed, the Quad Cities group had disappeared, so the MCRM asked Bensman to clean up the No.

[33] In early 1989, 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), under the guidance of Max and Thelma Biegert.

[33][34][35] In July that same year, GCR acquired four Ex-Lake Superior and Ishpeming (LS&I) 2-8-0 "Consolidation" locomotives (Nos.

18, 19, 20, and 29) for use on the route, but Gary Bensman, who was hired as GCR's Chief Mechanical Officer (CMO) during the company's first year, had informed Max Biegert that No.

[33][36] With Gary Bensman leaving his Casad shop, a group of GCR workforces led by Robert Franzen began to prepare No.

4960 to be moved out of Casad Industrial Park, but NS informed them that they would not ship the locomotive, due to pits being discovered in its axles.

4960 retain its CB&Q livery—with a new tender being installed—and to enter service for GCR by July 4, 1990, before gradually receiving mechanical improvements in ensuing years.

[33] The owners of Casad became impatient about the wheel-less 4960's prolonged storage status in New Haven, so they later threatened to scrap the locomotive, if GCR did not remove it within thirty days.

18 and 29 could, and Franzen opted to give the locomotive a full-fledged rebuild to allow it to run for many miles with minimal required maintenance.

[34][40][42] The shopforces also opted to replace the locomotive's original CB&Q tender, since it was in poor condition, and its small capacity was deemed unsuitable for a full round trip on the GCR.

4960's mechanical performance and cosmetic appearance, including the addition of a boiler-tube cowcatcher and a center-mounted dual-beam headlight on the smokebox door.

[46] On the weekend of October 5–6, the Grand Canyon Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) hosted a series of photo charters to serve as No.

4960 took part in that year's NRHS Convention on GCR, with the O-1A performing a photo doubleheader with visiting locomotive Santa Fe 3751 and a tripleheader with No.

4960 received a Worthington SA type feedwater heater built and designed for a China Railways QJ Class 2-10-2.

[52][53][54] In early September 2008, Xanterra announced that GCR would discontinue all steam operations, citing that fuel prices were rising from the 2000s energy crisis, and Nos.

4960 performed another doubleheader run with Santa Fe 3751, when the latter visited GCR as part of a six-day mainline excursion.