Canadian National number 3254 was built by the Canadian Locomotive Company in Kingston, Ontario, in 1917 for the Canadian Government Railways as their number 2854. The CGR was one of five railways amalgamated into the Canadian National Railways. Today the government owned Canadian National is a private company. Canadian National 3254 is a 2-8-2 Mikado class S1b retired in 1958. It was sold to a private owner in Pennsylvania in 1961, and in 1982 it was sold to the Gettysburg Railroad. In the summer of 1987, the Steamtown Foundation traded Canadian Pacific number 1278, a G5 Pacific, plus cash, to the Gettysburg Railroad for CN 3254.