Grand Canyon Railway 29

Grand Canyon Railway No. 29 is an SC-3 class 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive, built by ALCO's Pittsburgh Works in 1906 for the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad (LS&I) in Upper Michigan. The sole member of the LS&I's SC-3 class, it was originally numbered 14, but was renumbered to 29 in 1924. Having gone through two major rebuilds to upgrade its performance, No. 29 served the LS&I in pulling freight and iron ore trains until being retired in 1956.

In 1963, No. 29 was sold to the Marquette and Huron Mountain tourist railroad, where it spent several years in storage alongside other LS&I steam locomotives. In 1985, No. 29 was sold to a private owner, who in turn sold it to the Grand Canyon Railway (GCR) four years later. GCR returned No. 29 to service in April 1990, and the locomotive pulled the railway's passenger trains between Williams, Arizona and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. , No. 29 is out of service, undergoing a boiler inspection.

Construction and revenue service
In 1902, the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railway (LS&I) authorized to purchase three 2-8-0 locomotives, following a major increase in iron ore train traffic. The first two locomotives (Nos. 15-16) were delivered from the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1905, while the third locomotive, No. 29—originally numbered 14—was delivered from the American Locomotive Company's (ALCO) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Works in 1906 at a cost of $15,800. Classified as B-4's, the three locomotives were designed with 22x30 in cylinders and a working boiler pressure of 200 psi, and they could generate 43,304 lbf of tractive effort. The LS&I initially assigned No. 14 to pull empty hopper cars up a 1.63%-grade to iron ore mines in Negaunee and Ishpeming, Michigan. After the hoppers would be loaded with ore, the locomotive would pull the loaded train down the grade and onto an ore dock at Presque Isle, where the ore would be loaded into vessels for shipment across Lake Superior. On June 2, 1916, No. 14 pulled a loaded iron ore train out of Negaunee before it experienced a major accident; the locomotive and several hoppers toppled down a steep embankment. It subsequently took one month to repair and return No. 14 to service.

By that time, the B-4 locomotives were replaced by three larger Baldwin-built 2-8-0's in the hill-climbing ore train assignments. The LS&I primarily reassigned the B-4's to switching at ore mines and to steam shovel operations. In 1924, the LS&I merged with the Munising, Marquette and Southeastern Railway and reorganized as the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad. Almost all locomotives retained by the company were renumbered, with No. 14 being renumbered to 29. The following year, in 1925, No. 29 was moved to the LS&I's Presque Isle locomotive shops to be extensively rebuilt and modified.

The boiler received a feedwater heater and a wider firebox with thermic syphons, the cylinders were replaced with superheated 23x30 in cylinders, and No. 29 was reclassified as an SC-3. No. 29 was subsequently reassigned again to pull local freight trains between Marquette and Munising. In 1934, the locomotive was modified with a tender booster that was previously applied to LS&I SC-1 class No. 32—when activated, the booster would upgrade No. 29's tractive effort to 59,825 lbf. Afterward, the LS&I further reassigned the SC-3 to pull loaded iron ore trains and mixed freight trains. During and after World War II, No. 29 was stationed to work throughout the Ishpeming area, until it was retired in 1956. Shortly thereafter, it was stored inside a roundhouse in Marquette, but by 1958, No. 29 was in outdoor storage on a siding in Marquette, alongside other retired LS&I steam locomotives.

Retirement
In 1963, No. 29 was one of eleven LS&I 2-8-0 locomotives to be purchased by the newly-formed Marquette and Huron Mountain (M&HM) tourist railroad. Under M&HM ownership, the SC-3 continued to be stored while the railroad only used three other locomotives for their operations. Later, in 1984, the M&HM's owner died, and all of the equipment the railroad owned by that time was sold at an auction on January 14, 1985. During the auction, No. 29 was purchased by Steve Mattox of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and he subsequently arranged for the locomotive to be stored at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin.

Grand Canyon Railway ownership
Throughout 1989, under the guidance of Max and Thelma Biegert, the Santa Fe Railroad's abandoned 64 mi 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). In July that same year, GCR purchased No. 29 from Steve Mattox, and they purchased three LS&I SC-4 class locomotives (Nos. 18, 19, and 20) from a company in Wisconsin. Following some shipping delays caused by the Chicago and North Western, all four locomotives were brought to Williams via flatcar by late August. No. 18 was in the process of being restored to operating condition while it was purchased, so it was selected to be restored for GCR first. Following No. 18's return to service in September, GCR's shop crews began restoration work on No. 29 that same month. Initially, work on the SC-3 took place outdoors, but as temperatures in Williams fell during the winter months, outdoor work became problematic for GCR staff.

Beginning in January 1990, all work on GCR's equipment, including No. 29, was moved inside a newly-constructed locomotive shop with air conditioning and necessary tools. No. 29 entered service for GCR on April 26, and it pulled its first train between Williams and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was quickly discovered that Nos. 18 and 29 could only pull six and seven passenger cars on the line unassisted, and by the mid-1990s, GCR's passenger train schedule was expanding. GCR simultaneously acquired Ex-Via Rail FPA-4 diesel locomotives for use in pulling their expanded trains, and the railway approved the extensive rebuild of a bigger steam locomotive they had acquired, Ex-Burlington Route 2-8-2 No. 4960. In 1995, No. 29 was removed from service to undergo a mandated boiler inspection. The locomotive subsequently received a major rebuild that took 26,000 hours of labor and cost over $1 million to complete. No. 29 returned to service for GCR in 2004. The following year, No. 29 was modified with a Lempor Exhaust System and a new smokestack to increase its draft and to reduce its back pressure. In 2006, Max and Thelma Biegert sold GCR to Xanterra Parks and Resorts, and as a result of rising fuel prices and environmental concerns, Xanterra chose to discontinue regular steam operations on GCR in September 2008. While No. 4960 was converted to burn waste vegetable oil (WVO) and returned to service in 2009, No. 29 was put on display near the Williams Depot, and later the Grand Canyon Depot.

In 2016, during the centennial of the National Park Service, GCR repaired and returned No. 29 to service, converting it to burn WVO in the process. No. 29's return to service led to GCR receiving the Governor's Tourism Award for Outstanding Culture and Historical Preservation by the Arizona Office of Tourism, on July 20, 2017. Throughout 2019, No. 29 pulled most of the steam excursions of that season before taking part in a two-day photo charter, and then it was due to undergo a federally mandated 1,472-day inspection by the end of the year. After the charters ended in October, No. 29 was put back on display, waiting for its required overhaul to take place. The overhaul began in late 2023, with the boiler flues and tubes being removed.