Engine 2523 is a surviving P-2 class mountain type locomotive, one of only 28 built, acquired by the Great Northern Railway from Baldwin Works in Pennsylvania in 1923 to speed mainline passenger service. One of the last of its class to remain, the locomotive and tender are 100 feet 5 inches long, weigh 671,550 pounds, and stand 15 feet 10 inches from rail to the top of the stack. Initially a coal burner and later converted to oil, it developed 57,580 pounds of tractive effort, and each of its eight drive wheels is 73 inches high. In Kandiyohi County, the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad laid the first tracks through Willmar in 1869, and the first train came through Willmar in 1870. With the help of John Spicer, the St. Cloud and Sioux Falls Railroad through the northern part of Kandiyohi was completed in 1886. James J. Hill bought the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad in 1879 and changed its name to the Great Northern Railroad in 1890. A need for high-powered passenger service arose for the new Oriental Limited, which used all-steel cars and a faster schedule. By 1945 the P-2 class was no longer used for passenger service but for freight, and in 1949 Engine 2523 was used for freight in the Willmar division. It was retired to sidetracks in the Willmar rail yard in 1955, and in 1965 it was saved from scrapping and moved to the Kandiyohi County Historical Society. The track on which Engine 2523 now stands was laid to Great Northern Railway mainline specifications, with creosoted ties supported on a sub-ballast of 6 inches of rock chips and a ballast of 6 inches of crushed granite quarried by the Great Northern Railway in Granite Falls, Minnesota.