Valley Railroad No. 97 is a 200 class 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive, built by the American Locomotive Company's Cooke Works in November 1923, it was originally intended for use on the National Railway Company of Cuba, but the order was cancelled and the engine never made it to Cuba, it was kept in storage at the Cooke Works factory until it's closure in 1926. Instead, No. 97 was sold to the Birmingham and Southeastern Railroad in Alabama and was moved to their property on March 5, 1926.
There, No. 200 hauled multiple passenger and freight trains until being retired from revenue service in 1958. It was purchased by the Vermont Railway for use to haul excursions trains. It was placed in service in 1964 and was renumbered to No. 97, it pulled mainline excursion trains on the portions of the New Haven Railroad until it merged with the Penn Central Railroad in 1968.
In 1970, No. 97 was purchased by a New York Publisher and moved it to Essex, Connecticut to haul tourist trains for the Valley Railroad. After several years of work, No. 97 was placed into service in early spring and of 1973 and began hauling passenger excursions for the line and became a replacement locomotive to their recently sold locomotive No. 103.
In the mid 1970s, its original tender was replaced with a larger tender that was previously used on another 2-8-0 locomotive, Central Vermont No. 404. No 97's old tender currently sits out of service in Essex.
In December 2010, No. 97 was taken out of service to undergo its FRA 1,472-day inspection and overhaul. After eight years of work, No. 97 was soon back in service on October 26, 2018. Today, No. 97 continues to operate excursions on the Valley Railroad.