[1][2] It was built in 1881 by the Barney and Smith Car Company for the Carson and Colorado Railroad, which operated in the Owens Valley.

[9]: 40 [10]: 42  Kimball paid another $450 to ship the locomotive by rail to the Southern Pacific workshops in Los Angeles, California, where it successfully passed a boiler test.

[8][9]: 40  Afterwards, the Sidney Dillon was moved to Kimball's three-acre backyard, where he, his family, and his friends worked together to overhaul the locomotive.

[13] In 1946, Kimball acquired a boxcar and a caboose, both of which were from the defunct Pacific Coast Railway in San Luis Obispo, California.

[19] Kimball was forced to stop running the Emma Nevada in 1967 due to complaints from his neighbors regarding the coal smoke it created.

[17][21] Kimball gradually added several structures to the GFRR, including a roundhouse, a water tower, a windmill, and a depot building.

[26][27] On October 20, 1945, Disney attended one of the Kimball's "steam-ups", which were parties hosted at their home when the Grizzly Flats Railroad was in operation.

[5][14] The last of the rolling stock remaining on the GFRR, including the Chloe locomotive, was put on display at the museum in 2007.

[33][34] The GFRR's depot building and water tower were acquired by former Pixar film director John Lasseter, who moved them to his private Justi Creek Railway.