The train was pulled by a 50 year-old diesel going up and steam engine #29 on the return

The engine, a 185-ton model built in 1906 by the American Locomotive Co., once hauled ore trains for the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad in northern Michigan. Grand Canyon Railway purchased it and three similar engines in 1989. No. 29 began service to the Grand Canyon in 1990, then went into storage in 1995 to await the restoration that began in 2000 and finished a year or so later.