Revenue service No. 2719 was built by the
American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in May, 1923 in
Schenectady,
New York. It was one of 6 H-23 class "Pacific" type
steam locomotives built for the
Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad, better known as the Soo Line Railroad. At some point in the mid-1940s, the locomotive became one of a few H-23 locomotives to be equipped with an experimental Worthington feedwater heater on the
pilot deck, and it was ultimately deemed a failure. The locomotive operated until the mid-1950s when it was overhauled and put into storage. It was brought out of storage to haul the very last steam trains on Soo Line's trackage in June 1959. In June 2000, No. 2719 was moved to the
Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad in
Spooner. No. 2719's boiler flue time was to expire on July 31, but its flue time was extended so that it could operate into late summer of 2013. The LSRM was originally seeking $305,000 in 2011 to restore it back to operation after its flue time expired in 2013, however, the museum announced it was restoring a different steam locomotive (that the museum owned) to operate in time for the 2016 operating season, postponing hopes of bringing No. 2719 back under steam. It was likely that the city would buy No. 2719 for $1, then sell it back to the LSRM for $2, as the city council seemed to agree they'd rather have No. 2719 be restored to operation in the future than sitting on permanent static display. In June 2018, the city of Eau Claire voted for an extension to 2019 for the right to repurchase the locomotive and return it to Eau Claire, the city then purchased the locomotive back from Duluth for $4 in August, and explored options to return the locomotive to Eau Claire from Duluth. == 1999 accident ==