Revenue service

The locomotive was built in 1913 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) as a L-1 class 2-8-2 “Mikado” type steam locomotive.^[1] A very efficient locomotive design, the design enabled the L-1 class to pull passenger and freight trains.^[3] In November 1941, some major repairs and replacement parts were carried out on the locomotive. A larger sandbox was installed, the wooden pilot was swapped out with a new boiler tube steel pilot, and the wood and canvas roof was swapped out for steel and the cab became bigger.^[4] The last improvement was that a feed water heater was installed and the superheater itself was replaced with a Elesco type A. No. 1003 was used by the Soo Line mostly to pull freight trains until retirement in August 1959, when it went into serviceable storage in Gladstone, Michigan as part of the railroad's strategic reserve.^[1][2][5] The strategic reserve is the main reason why the No. 1003 was not cut up for scrap. On December 30, 1959, the railroad donated the locomotive to the city of Superior, Wisconsin where it was put on public display.^[1][2] In the mid 1970s, Superior Shortline Steam Railroad Ltd. was organized to restore the locomotive to operation.^[1][2] However, the plan of restoring the locomotive to operating condition never came to fruition.

Excursion service

The locomotive was sold partially disassembled in 1993 to Wisconsin Railway Preservation Trust (WRPT), another organization whose goal was to return the locomotive to operations.^[1][2] WRPT raised $250,000 for the locomotive's restoration. It was originally hoped that the locomotive could be used for excursion trips on the weekend of October 5, 1996, but boiler tests showed the engine to not be ready in time.^[1][2]

No. 1003's first run after restoration under its own power occurred on October 27, 1996, when it steamed up the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway's Proctor Hill.^[1][2] It performed a few more test runs before its first public excursion in 1997. In 1998, it ran the "triple-header" excursion with Northern Pacific 328 and Soo Line 2719.^[1][2]

In 2000 and 2001, No. 1003 pulled excursion trains on the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad (WSOR).^[6] In July 2002, No. 1003 lead that year's Circus World Museum (CWM) train on the WSOR from Baraboo to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.^[6][7]

The locomotive made its final journey under its FRA-mandated 15-year boiler certificate on November 13, 2010. But shortly afterwards, the operators raised funds to have the engine overhauled and certified for another 15 years of operation. No. 1003 returned to service in September 2012, but flue problems delayed its first excursion run until November 2014.^[1][2]