You may not know her by name, but no doubt have seen her in movies or on TV. Sierra Railway #3, known as the most photographed locomotive in America, needs help.
The 1891 Rogers 4-6-0 has been featured in more than 200 film and television productions including High Noon, Petticoat Junction, Little House on the Prairie, and more recently Back to the Future Part 3.
The locomotive is a beautiful oil-burner with one of the most beautiful whistles to be heard anywhere. It is now owned by the California State Railroad Museum and still resides in the Jamestown roundhouse, now part of the Railtown 1897 State Historic Park complex.
Restoration was started, but $300,000 is still needed to complete the restoration work (mainly the boiler) before she can run again. Please visit the link below to learn how to contribute to the 3-spot's restoration.
For those of you who have never heard of the Sierra Railway or Railtown 1897, the historic railway runs between Oakdale and Standard, California in California's Mother Lode (gold country) at the base of the Sierra-Nevada mountains. The shortline is still in existence today, now based out of Oakdale using diesel locomotives.
Although the Sierra offers a dinner train out of Oakdale, there is no better way to enjoy riding the line behind a steam locomotive. On weekends, one can ride either a 1922 Baldwin Consolidation #28 (built for and still running on the Sierra) or a 1922 3-truck 90 ton Shay (former Feather River Railway #2, sister to the #3 now Cass #11).
I highly reccomend that anyone who enjoys steam or history take the trip out to Jamestown to see a circa 1922 railroad yard frozen in time and to ride behind a vintage steam locomotive. The yard is home to the original roundhouse, machine shop, air-powered turntable, and the famous water tank used in "Petticoat Junction". Everything is pretty much operational, and tours are offered (and if I remember correctly, turntable rides are too).
A variety of excursions are offered throughout the year, although the steam-powered dinner trains are not. They may still be doing wine and cheese trains.
When one thinks of the old west, this is it. Tuolumne County is still very much unchanged, and there are lots of places for you to explore.
If you are in the area you may also want to check out the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad. Although it is a decent hike from the Sierra (not down the street) you can see one of two ex-West Side narrow gauge shays in operation. #10 is the largest narrow gauge Shay ever built.
Give maybe 5-10 years and you may be able to once again ride behind a shay on the old West-Side Lumber Company line out of Tuolumne. A group is working to restore the line up to the site of the now-derelect Bourland Trestle. There are several buildings at the site and some old steam donkeys. A Rogers internal combustion "critter" is there too. The Shay acquired for use on the line is now in Washington state getting rebuilt as time allows. It was once in front of a casino in Boulder City, Nevada. I don't believe the site is open to the public as it is owned by the Me-Wuk tribe who wants to build a casino there. From what I hear they are somewhat open to the idea of a steam railway on the site as it may help with their attraction.
If you are interested in the Sierra and aren't planning to be in California anytime soon, may I reccomend the following videos. Greg Scholl Productions offers a video on the Sierra made around 1990 (I have the Marathon of Steam video featuring it). It features the #28 and is well done. In addition, there is a film from the 1970s called "Mother Lode Shortline" that is despite its age still very interesting. You can see the #3, #28, and #34 (a Mikado stored in the roundhouse at Jamestown today) in action as well as the old Jamestown depot that was destroyed by fire. Also I found most interesting the "Movie Railroad" video put out by Machines of Iron, which (also from the 1970s) shows much footage of the #3 and the #8 (Short Line Enterprises/Dardanelle & Russelville/Nevada State Railroad Museum) including a double header by the two 1800s steamers doing a doubleheader with period rolling stock. There is even footage of movies being made on the line.
Oh and by the way, the #3 does not have the balloon stack, wood pile, and box headlight you see in the movies. It in reality (when not dressed up for the movies) has an electric headlamp with deer antlers, a straight stack (in the early 1990s with a spark arrestor on top), and an oil tank in the tender. When I was at Railtown in maybe 1995, she was operational (but not under steam that day) and had a beautiful yellow with red lining lettering and paint job. Daylight Sales had a great T-shirt of her too.
Help #3
GTNGRR@aol.com
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