Railtown 1897 State Historic Park
Encyclopedia
Jamestown, California
Jamestown is a census-designated place in Tuolumne County, California, United States. The population was 3,433 at the 2010 census, up from 3,017 at the 2000 census.A scene from the movie Hidalgo was filmed in Jamestown...
. The entire park preserves the historic core of the original Sierra Railway of California (later reincorporated as the Sierra Railroad Company). The railway's Jamestown locomotive and rolling stock maintenance facilities are remarkably intact and continue to function much as they have for the last 100-plus years.
The California State Railroad Museum
California State Railroad Museum
The California State Railroad Museum is a museum in the state park system of California, USA, interpreting the role of the "iron horse" in connecting California to the rest of the nation. It is located in Old Sacramento at 111 I Street....
(CSRM), headquartered in Old Sacramento, assumed responsibility for Railtown 1897 State Historic Park on July 1, 1992.
The Sierra Railway served the West Side Lumber Company mill at Tuolumne
Tuolumne City, California
Tuolumne is a census-designated place in Tuolumne County, California, United States. The population was 1,779 at the 2010 census, down from 1,865 at the 2000 census.-History:...
. The West Side operated an extensive narrow gauge (36") logging railroad in the Sierras. It operated into the 1960's, and was the last of the narrow-gauge logging railways operating in the American West.
In addition to seasonal steam and diesel-powered train rides, the Railtown experience includes tours of the circa 1920s locomotive roundhouse
Roundhouse
A roundhouse is a building used by railroads for servicing locomotives. Roundhouses are large, circular or semicircular structures that were traditionally located surrounding or adjacent to turntables...
and machine shop and related exhibits. Movie paraphernalia used in filming train sequences is on display.
Movie heritage
Since 1929, when The VirginianThe Virginian (1929 film)
The Virginian is a 1929 western movie starring Gary Cooper as the Virginian and Walter Huston as the villainous Trampas. The early sound film was directed by Victor Fleming....
(the first talkie
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
filmed outside a movie studio) was filmed with the Sierra locomotive number 3, the Sierra Railway properties have been a major resource to the motion picture industry. Sierra's tracks, locomotives and cars have long been seen on the silver screen; film credits include Go West with the Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
, High Noon
High Noon
High Noon is a 1952 American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells in real time the story of a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself...
with Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
and Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
, 3:10 To Yuma (1957) featured #3
Sierra No. 3
Sierra Railway No. 3, often called the "movie star locomotive", is a 19th century steam locomotive owned by 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...
in the end of the movie, as well as Back to the Future III with Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
and Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Allen Lloyd is an American actor. He is best known for playing Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy, Uncle Fester in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values, and Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He played Reverend Jim Ignatowski in the television series Taxi and more...
. Television programs that regularly used the Sierra property include Wild, Wild West, Iron Horse
Iron horse
An Iron horse is an iconic literary term originating in the early Victorian culture when horses still powered most machinery, excepting windmills and stationary steam engines, the term was common and popular in both British and North American literary articles.Iron Horse was used admiringly when...
, Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series that ran from March 18, 1957 to June 2, 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour.-Synopsis:...
, and perhaps most famously, Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning; the others are The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.The setting for the series...
. The Sierra No. 3
Sierra No. 3
Sierra Railway No. 3, often called the "movie star locomotive", is a 19th century steam locomotive owned by 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...
locomotive and Sierra's coach number 5 were the Hooterville Cannonball
Hooterville Cannonball
The Hooterville Cannonball was a fictional railroad train featured in Petticoat Junction, an American situation comedy that was produced by Filmways, Inc., and originally aired on the CBS network from 1963 to 1970...
. Locomotive No. 3 was also used in Season 2, Episode 17 of Little House on the Prairie
Little House on the Prairie
Little House is a series of children's books by Laura Ingalls Wilder that was published originally between 1932 and 1943, with four additional books published posthumously, in 1962, 1971, 1974 and 2006.-History:...
.
Proposed for closure
The Railtown 1897 State Historic Park is one of the 48 California state parks proposed for closure in January 2008 by California's Governor Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
as part of a deficit reduction program.
But Railtown is still open as of October 2011. Its closure now seems doubtful with Jerry Brown
Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. is an American politician. Brown served as the 34th Governor of California , and is currently serving as the 39th California Governor...
, who is highly pro-rail, as governor again.