Great Northern Railway Engine No. 2523 was a mountain type P-2 class steam locomotive acquired to speed main-line passenger service. During its pre-eminent association with the Oriental Limited, it was a powerful and speedy locomotive, and after the Empire Builder was inaugurated in June 1929 and growing popularity required heavier trains, the more powerful S-2 locomotives took over that service. No. 2523, the last of 28 locomotives built for Great Northern by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, then pulled fast mail and famed silk trains before the P-2 engines were later used in freight service and retired in 1955. An oil burner, No. 2523 developed 57,580 pounds of tractive effort; its eight drive wheels were 73 inches high, and the locomotive and tender measured 94 feet 8¼ inches long, weighed 617,000 pounds, and stood 15 feet 10 inches from rail to the top of the stack. It was placed on permanent exhibition here on October 17, 1965, on track laid to Great Northern main line specifications with creosoted ties supported by 6 inches of rock-chip sub-ballast and 6 inches of crushed granite ballast quarried by the Great Northern in Granite Falls, MN.