In 2007, it was acquired by the Grand Canyon Railway and moved to Williams, Arizona for an operational restoration that also never came to fruition.

These enlarged versions of the basic W class 2-8-2s were assigned to pull dual service trains across the NP system, and they showed the effects of superheating on the layout of tubes and flues, and compared to the Q-5 4-6-2 "Pacifics" built by Brooks in 1920, the W-3s had slightly larger boilers, but with less firebox heating surfaces.

By 1957, the SP&S, the NP, and the Great Northern Railroads had all retired their steam locomotive fleets, and that same year, No.

539's fire was dropped for the last time, after logging approximately 174,378 miles without any major accidents or derailments.

[4] On September 30 of that year, a lift truck moved 33-foot sections of track in place in front of No.

539 as the locomotive made its 31/2-block run from Seventh and Harney Streets to its new display site at Esther Short Park.

Gleaming in a new paint job of black and silver, the locomotive would remain in the park as a lasting memorial to railroading's steam age for the next forty years.

In the early 1990s, Brian Fleming, a former owner and operator of the Mount Hood Railroad, purchased No.

Extended temporary rails were also installed behind the locomotive for additional space to position the cranes, since at the time, No.

On June 21, workers with two trucks and a heavyweight crane arrived to move the locomotive down the street to the Burlington Northern (BN) mainline, and people gathered to watch the process.

The locomotive and the tender were brought onto BN trackage and then towed to a nearby Power station under a rooftop.

The building was dismantled and moved to Battle Ground awaiting reconstruction, since it was intended to be used to house the locomotive for restoration.

The locomotive was also missing most of its essential components, including all of its connecting rods, its boiler jacketing, its cylinder coverings, its headlight, and its builder's plates.

In 2007, the Grand Canyon Railway (GCRY), a former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe branch line that lied between Williams, Arizona and the south rim of the Grand Canyon National Park, was looking for a larger and more powerful locomotive to meet the demand for more tractive effort, since their loaded passenger trains were getting longer.

A train was made and tied on a skate of the main line at Battle Ground just before the Portland Vancouver Junction Railroad crew went off duty on April 5, and they expected to deliver No.

However, 2007 was also the year the GCRY first became a subsidiary of Xanterra Travel Collection, and they started growing concerns over steam locomotives in terms of fuel costs and environmental hazards.

Beginning in 2009, however, they brought back steam operations with Numbers 29 and 4960 being converted to Vegetable oil fuel, and they are limited on when they could run.

[15] The locomotive was placed on extended rail and pushed inside the interpretive center without incident.

539 remains on static display inside the interpretive center at the Port of Kalama, where "Rail meets Sail".