During the first 19 years of its existence, the 26 worked at the Baldwin Locomotive Works plant in Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Painted in Baldwin's standard olive green with aluminum trim and lettering livery, the 26 labored hauling raw materials and completed locomotives around the plant with at least two other identical sister locomotives. Other locomotives of this design were built for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, Lehigh and New England Railroad, and General Steel Castings. Following the end of World War II, the 26 was purchased by the Jackson Iron and Steel Company of Jackson, Ohio, becoming their number 3 in 1948. While working at JI&S, the locomotive's career is relatively unknown, but the locomotive's career is known to have lasted unusually late for a steam locomotive in revenue service, before being retired in the 1970s. In 1979, the locomotive was purchased by Jerry Jacobson who saved the locomotive from scrap with only hours to spare; the scrapper hired to cut up the locomotive already had his gear in the enginehouse in preparation to dismantle the locomotive.
Preservation
In 1983, Jacobson had the locomotive moved from Jackson, first to Grand Rapids, Ohio, then to the Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum in Bellevue, Ohio where it was painted as Nickel Plate Road 17. Three years later in 1986, Jacobson traded the switcher with the Steamtown Foundation of Scranton, Pennsylvania for their ex Canadian National4-6-0 No. 1551. Later that same year, Steamtown was taken over by the National Park Service becoming Steamtown National Historic Site. The locomotive arrived at Scranton in January 1990 and was renumbered back to Baldwin Locomotive Works 26. After arriving at Steamtown, the 26 erroneously painted black with white lettering albeit in the same style as her original Baldwin Locomotive Works livery. Prior to the official opening of Steamtown National Historic Site, the 26 frequently ferried passengers between the temporary visitors center and the former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad roundhouse and turntable complex then undergoing renovations to become the permanent visitors center, museum, and locomotive storage and servicing facility for the park. Following the completion of the museum complex in June 1995, 26 ceremonially "cut" a ribbon laid across one of the yard tracks during the official opening ceremony.
Rebuild and Return to Service
Following the official opening of the park, the 26 became the primary power on Steamtown's short Scranton Limited trains between the museum complex and just beyond the former DL&W Scranton station. She also ran the "Nay Aug Gorge Limited", which travels past the former DL&W Scranton station, and stops on the outskirts of the city just before the Nay Aug tunnel at Nay Aug Park. She also occasionally ran trips to Carbondale, Pennsylvania. In 1999, the 26 entered Steamtown's shops for its FRA-mandated 5-year inspection where it was discovered that the entire inner firebox, and portions of the boiler were in imminent need of replacement. Park management decided to rebuild the 26 and the locomotive was completely disassembled. During the disassembly process, it was discovered that the locomotive's frame was bent. The ensuing overhaul, which lasted 17 years, saw the rebuilding of the locomotive's running gear, replacement of the firebox, straightening of the frame, re-boring of the cylinders, and other various preventative maintenance. While the 26 was down for rebuild, Steamtown was forced to use its two mainline locomotives, Canadian National 3254 and Canadian Pacific 2317, to substitute for the switcher, this ate into the flue time of both locomotives, particularly the 2317, whose flue time expired in 2010. 3254 became the park's only operable steam locomotive during the 2011 and 2012 seasons; however near the end of the 2012 season, 3254 was discovered to have serious frame issues, which necessitated an early retirement of the locomotive. Between the retirement of 3254 and the return of 26, Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad 425 and Nickel Plate 765 visited the park during Steamtown's annual railfest of 2013 and 2015 respectively, but Steamtown was without an operable steam locomotive of its own until December 2015 when 26's overhaul was completed and the locomotive returned to service in early 2016. Following its return to service, 26 resumed its position as power on the Scranton Limited and “Nay Aug Gorge Limited” yard shuttles.
