Rhode Island Locomotive Works of Providence, Rhode Island issued this albumen carte de visite as a manufacturer's promotional builder's photograph, the reverse printed as a formal trade card identifying the company as manufacturers of locomotive engines, boilers, and tanks, with its four principal officers named. Builder's photographs of this format, distributed as promotional cards to railroad purchasing agents and company officers, are among the most collectible documents in American railroad history. The locomotive depicted is a 4-4-0 American Standard type, the dominant wheel arrangement of the era.

The engine faces right in three-quarter view on a set of yard tracks, its polished boiler, ornate cab, and large balloon stack rendered in sharp detail. The number 2 appears on the cab, and a name is partially legible on the tender, with decorative striping and lettering visible along the cab sides. A pilot beam and cowcatcher extend from the front, and the driving wheels and connecting rods are clearly defined against the open yard background. Industrial buildings and tree lines are visible in the distance behind the locomotive.

The Rhode Island Locomotive Works was established in 1865 and produced more than 3,400 locomotives between 1867 and 1906. New locomotives were regularly posed for builder's portraits on a railroad spur that crossed the Woonasquatucket River at the works entrance. The reverse names W.S. Slater as President, E.P. Mason as Treasurer, B.W. Healey as Superintendent, and W.H. Fenner as Secretary, placing this card within a datable window of the company's management history.