Spencer #604 was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, PA in 1926. This 2-8-0 Consolidation type locomotive was built for the National Railway of Mexico as oil burner #200, but never delivered. Instead, it was converted to coal firing and sold to the Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad in West Virginia as #4. In 1964, the locomotive was sold to the Quakertown and Eastern, a tourist line in Pennsylvania. They later sold the #4 to the Southwest Virginia Scenic Railroad in Hilton, Va.

The N.C. Transportation Museum Foundation bought the locomotive in 1978, which was restored to operating condition in 1987 by retired Southern Railway employees who volunteered at the museum. The 604 was numbered after similar class locomotives on the Southern, and, until late 2002, was used to pull the on-site train ride.