page_title: Sierra No. 3
section_title: 21st-century renovation
hierarchical_section_title: Sierra No. 3 / 21st-century renovation
caption_attribution_description: English: The original boiler of Sierra No. 3, a steam locomotive located at Railtown 1897 State Historic Park in Jamestown, California. The boiler was replaced with a new one for safety reasons, in a renovation completed in 2010.
context_page_description: Sierra Railway No. 3, often called the "Movie Star locomotive", is a 19th-century steam locomotive owned by the State of California and preserved at Railtown 1897 State Historic Park in Jamestown, California. Former Transportation History curator at the Smithsonian Institution William L. Withhuhn described the locomotive's historical and cultural significance:
  Sierra Railway No. 3 has appeared in more motion pictures, documentaries, and television productions than any other locomotive. It is undisputedly the image of the archetypal steam locomotive that propelled the USA from the 19th century into the 20th.
  Built in 1891, the locomotive returned to operation in July 2010 after a fourteen-year absence from service and a three-year-long overhaul, requiring the replacement of its original boiler.
context_section_description: Preliminary repairs were completed in 2000–2001 with deferred maintenance funding from the State of California. This included dismantling the locomotive.  The project progressed very slowly until 2007, when a major fundraising campaign began.  At that time, the budget for the project was estimated at US$600,000, based on the assumption that the existing boiler could be saved.
  In a fundraising appeal, Clint Eastwood described Sierra No. 3 as "like a treasured old friend." Eastwood had ridden the locomotive early in his career on the TV series Rawhide, and later used the locomotive in his own movie productions Pale Rider and Unforgiven. Eastwood wrote, "Sierra No. 3 resides at Railtown 1897 State Historic Park. It is housed in the original roundhouse which is still in use. Together these two assets provide a rare opportunity to experience history just as it was 109 years ago."  Funding for the renovation project was provided by the California Cultural and Historical Endowment, the Irving J. Symons Foundation, the Sonora Area Foundation, the California State Parks Foundation, the Teichert Foundation, DuPont and many individual donors. 
  The rebuild included boring out the cylinders and turning the drive wheel tires on a lathe.
  
  When work on the disassembled locomotive resumed, and the boiler was inspected thoroughly by ultrasound testing, it was discovered that a new boiler was necessary. Its old lap seam design made retrofitting it to modern standards too costly, and the risk of the boiler losing its historical integrity was a risk Railtown staff decided not to take. Engineering drawings and other technical assistance needed to build a new boiler were provided by the Strasburg Rail Road in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The old boiler was shipped to be used as a pattern to the Chelatchie Boiler Works of Camas, Washington, which fabricated a new welded boiler at a cost of US$600,000.  The boiler was then shipped to the historic Southern Pacific shops in Sacramento, California and fitted on the original frame. The locomotive was then trucked back to Jamestown, California for final assembly.
  The current configuration of the locomotive represents her appearance during the year 1929, when the movie The Virginian was filmed and provided the first known evidence of the presence of "3-spot's" steel cab. Final cost of the rebuild was US$1.6 million, and the locomotive officially returned to service on July 3, 2010.
caption: Sierra Railway No. 3's original boiler that was replaced during a rebuild, photo taken 2011
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