In March 1926, the 290, a Pacific type 4-6-2 steam passenger engine, was delivered to the Atlanta and West Point Rail Road Company by Lima Locomotive Works. From 1926 until 1953, it served on the company’s main line passenger runs, including the Crescent Limited and the Piedmont Limited, between Atlanta and Montgomery. In 1957, Atlanta citizens led by Leo Aikman and E. M. Ivie began a movement to preserve the 290 as a permanent monument to the apex of steam locomotion. In May 1958, the Atlanta and West Point Rail Road Company, through its president, J. Clyde Mixon, presented the 290 to Mayor William B. Hartsfield for the City of Atlanta. In July 1958, the locomotive, weighing 269,000 pounds, and its tender, weighing 78,800 pounds, were moved from the company’s belt line track down one and one-half miles of Pryor Street and through Lakewood Park to this site in a difficult engineering feat performed voluntarily by the 836th Engineer Battalion (Heavy Construction), United States Army Reserve, under Lt. Col. J. E. Bing.