It was originally built as part of a standard locomotive design with 1880's specifications, in order to help construct the Canadian National Transcontinental Railway.

[1][2] The early Pittsburgh design was subsequently redesigned with a larger firebox and superheated flues, which would create a higher boiler pressure and a greater tractive effort.

1 was initially assigned to pull coal trains on branchlines in and out of Beaver Mines, Alberta.

1 was purchased by Ray Buhrmaster and Stan Mailer, two members of the recently established Mid-Continent Railway Museum (MCRM).

[4][5] The locomotive was subsequently moved via flatcar to North Freedom, Wisconsin on October 30 of that year, and museum members and volunteers began working to restore the locomotive to operating condition with a renewed flue time.

[9] In February 2004, the belly section beneath the boiler barrel was cut out to make way for a new patch of material.

[11] In November of that year, crews began creating a new front tube sheet from scratch, as a replacement for the old one.

[13] In December of that year, Museum employee Roger Hugg began to create a new replacement cowcatcher for No.

[14] In January 2007, the driving wheels were sandblasted and trucked to DRM Industries in Madison to be primed before being shipped again to be repaired at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM).

[15] In September, work on the driving wheels was completed, and they were subsequently shipped back to North Freedom.

[15] In June of that year, however, the MCRM's property was inundated by floodwaters from the nearby Baraboo River, and the museum subsequently concentrated their efforts on repairing and reorganizing the damages while the rebuild on No.