The Three-Spot Lives! Were it not for a strange twist of fate, the little 10-wheeler you see here might have led a very undistinguished career for a California railroad and been scrapped 80 years ago. Built by the Rogers Locomotive Works in 1891 for the Prescott & Arizona Central Railroad, this engine served there for just a few years before being acquired by the newly-formed Sierra Railway Company of California as their Locomotive Number 3. There, she worked hard for the next 30 years, acquiring more than a few bumps and bruises along the way. By the early 1930s, she was retired and sitting in the Jamestown Yard awaiting her fate. Miraculously, she escaped the scrappers torch during the war years. Then, in the late 1940s, a totally new career came calling. Hollywood was in love with Western films and steam trains were much in demand. Little #3 was given a thorough overhaul and a star was born. Over the next 40 years, Sierra #3 played roles in over 100 movies and TV programs, making her one of the most viewed steam locomotives of all time. In the late 1990s however, time and the FRA caught up with the "Three-Spot". Her boiler would not meet CFR Part 230 regulations and her fate was uncertain. Thanks to a protracted effort by the California State Railroad Museum's Railtown 1897 State Historic Park and several historic preservation groups however, Sierra #3 would ultimately get a new boiler and a thorough overhaul that would make her operational once again. In July of 2010, Sierra #3 steamed out of the Jamestown Roundhouse under her own power and is once again pulling excursions at Railtown 1897. She is seen here at the end of a service day, taking a spin on the Jamestown Turntable and preparing to enter her roundhouse stall.
