Named after Madeira-Mamoré engineer George Earl Church, the locomotive helped inaugurate the first part of the line on July 4, 1878. However, in August 1879, it derailed on a poorly-designed curve. With construction on the railroad halted due to tropical disease, Coronel Church was abandoned to the rainforest.[1][2] It would be was rediscovered 34 years later by surveyors acting on behalf of Percival Farquhar, who had secured a government concession to reopen the line. Some accounts say the locomotive was overgrown with vegetation, while others say it was used as a water tank, hen house, and bakery oven by local villagers.[3][4] Regardless, it was salvaged by railroad engineers and returned to service in 1912.