This locomotive was designed for going up and down a twenty-five percent grade. Zaleman J. Simmons was a businessman who invented a mattress company and was involved in telegraph lines, starting the Monitou & Pikes Peak Railway, in addition to participating in the Rock Island Line. In 1888, Mr. Simmons came to Colorado Springs, CO, to inspect telegraph lines up to Pikes Peak, CO. The donkeys would take 2 days to climb the grade. So, it was decided that a railroad needed to be installed. In 1889, construction began on the Manitou & Pikes Peak Railway and was completed up to the summit in 1891. Steam
locomotives such as Manitou & Pikes Peak #1 pushed passenger coaches up the grade. In 1893, the locomotive was sent back to Baldwin Locomotive Works in Pennsylvania to be rebuilt for a compound
configuration. This reduced the amount of fuel and water needed on every trip. Before climbing the grade, the locomotive needed to be fully loaded with water, stop twice for refilling. At the time, the railroad owned seven steam locomotives in an incline configuration to allow leveling the boiler. Six were rebuilt with new frames and rod arrangements. Just three trains could go up and down the line in one day. There were no couplers, which meant the trains used gravity to keep the one coach and locomotive attached. Competition came into play for road transportation up to today. In 1925, the railroad was passed to Spencer Penrose, the owner of the Colorado Hotel in Colorado Springs, CO, in addition to the Colorado Midland Railway. This was good to have a roundhouse to maintain the cog railway equipment, in addition to being able to modernize the line with streamliner equipment. Manitou & Pikes Peak #1 is currently on static display at the Colorado Railroad Museum.