The engine was built by Baldwin in December 1879 for the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Railway, originally numbered 27 and named Talullah.

Very little is known about the engine's history prior to the 1903 renumbering and company records from that time are largely either missing, incomplete, and/or contain conflicting data.

Southern rebuilt the engine in 1903, and from then until retirement, it served as a switcher for the railway's Pegram Shops in Atlanta.

Maud was retired June 29, 1950, and moved to Inman, Georgia, where it was to be scrapped.

However, the shop's workers had favored Maud, and wrote to then Southern Railway president E. E. Norris requesting the engine be preserved.