r/trains #3

Delaware & Hudson (Lightning Stripe)

Iowa Interstate (Rock Island Heritage)

KCS (Old School Canucks Vibe)

Erie

Southern (Green)

Southern (Black)

Reading (Bee Line Service)

D&RGW

Great Northern

Taw Valley was built at the Southern Railway's Brighton Works in April 1946 to the design of Oliver Davis Bullied as part of his West Country class of locomotives as 21C127.

After Nationalization in 1948 when the Southern merged with the GWR, LMS and LNER into British Railways, it was renumbered to 34027 and has worn that BR number ever since.

During her 18 years of service, Taw Valley and her fellow Bullied Pacific's hauled Southern's famous trains and their two boat trains. Those we're the Golden Arrow and Night Ferry.

She was rebuilt in September of 1957 where it seemed she will run until the 70's. But the Modernization Plan of 1955 foresaw the end of Steam Power 2 years earlier before.

And due the rise of the diesels in the form of Class 33's and later electrics in the form of Class 71's, she was withdrawn in August of 1964 after a short 18 years of service.

After retirement, in December of 1964, Taw Valley went to the Woodham Brothers Scrapyard in Barry, South Wales. Here it was neglected where she was left to rust for 14 more years.

In 1980, Taw Valley was rescued by Bert Hitchen and left the famous scrapyard in April that year and was initially moved to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway for restoration.

After she was restored by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, she then moved to the East Lancashire Railway for paint and spell, and finally the Severn Valley Railway in 1987.

In 1987, Taw Valley steam again for the first time in 23 years since 1964 and began hauling excursions on the Severn Valley Railway restored to her BR guise with number 34027.

Sometime in the 1990's Taw Valley guised as fellow and deceased sister 34045 "Ottery St Mary" and she was a regular performer on VOSE excursions as well as mainline excursions.

In 2000, Taw Valley was repainted red with Hogwarts names and pulled a special train to celebrate the release of the 4th Harry Potter Novel: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

There was an attempt to have Taw Valley be the Hogwarts Express, but that of course goes to GWR Hall Class 5972 "Olton Hall" due to it's more classy appearence for Harry Potter.

Taw Valley was taken out of service in 2006. Following a lengthy overhaul at the Severn Valley Railway, The large Bullied Pacific steamed again in May 2015 after 9 years.

On February 10th 2022, it was announced that Taw Valley will be painted purple, renumbered 70 and name Elizabeth II as 2022 was the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

Taw Valley entered the paint booth in April where repainting took a month and was unveiled in Purple with Silver Lining in May to celebrate 70 years of the Queen's Reign of the UK.

After the Queen's death on September 8th 2022, Taw Valley's red Elizabeth II nameplate was switched out for a black one and had 1926 - 2022 underneath and was back as 34027.

By the end of 2022, Taw Valley was repainted black with Southern lettering and with it's as built number of 21C127. She was withdrawn again in the Autumn of 2023 for work again.

Taw Valley has since been undergoing another major overhaul which began in January 2024. But she holds the record of being the only steam engine to ever be painted Purple.

Although it's sad that Elizabeth II is no longer with us, Taw Valley will always be the one for saluting her majesty after 70 faithful years of her reign as Queen of England.

Sierra Railway 3 was built by Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works in Patterson New Jersey on March 26th 1891 originally built for the Prescott and Arizona and Central railroad.

The P&AC would go bankrupt in 1893, and Old Number 3 was moved out to California as well as the defunct P&AC equipment and became Sierra Railway 3 when it was created in 1897.

Sierra 3 sadly was not without accidents. It was involved in 3. First in 1898 when it derailed on a switch, 1899 due to a trestle bridge collapse and 1918 when it turned over.

Jump 2 years later to 1920, Sierra Railway 3 starred in it's first movie which Tom Mix's The Terror. It was the first of hundreds of movies Old Number 3 will star in in years.

Sierra Railway 3's second movie appearence was in the Virginian in 1929. It was the first movie where Number 3 wore a box headlight and balloon smokestack for it's appearences.

Number 3 was eventually retired in 1932, and was stored near the Jamestown roundhouse. But then in 1945, she was moved into the Jamestown Roundhouse for a full restoration.

Sierra Railway 3 steamed again in 1948, just in time to pull an special excursion train hosted by the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society.

Happy 134rd birthday to Sierra Railway 3.

Some Movies Sierra Railway 3 starred in included Wyoming Mail (1950), High Noon (1952), Kansas Pacific (1953), Rage at Dawn (1955), Nickolodeon (1976), and Unforgiven (1992).

It also starred in TV shows such as, Petticoat Junction (1963 - 1970), Casey Jones (1956), The A-Team (1983), Rawhide (1953-1966) The Adventures of Brisco County Jr (1993).

But as we all know, Sierra Railway 3's biggest highlight in the film industry was guising as Central Pacific 131 in the 1990 Science Fiction Western: Back to the Future Part 3.

For everyone wondering about the train wreck scene, they did that to scaled down model of 3. It's drive wheels we're reused for the Redwood Valley Railroad's Number 7 "Oak".

Away from being in film, Sierra Railway 3 was one of the 6 steam engine the Sierra Kept in 1955, ran in Railtown 1897 from 1971 to 79, and State Historic part from 1982 to today.

Sierra Railway 3 also went to the California State Railroad Museum for Railfair 91. And the engine has turned 100 years old and pulled special excursions for it's 100th birthday.

Unfortunately, Sierra Railway Number 3 was eventually retired from service in 1996 for it's FRA mandated 1472 day inspection which included making a new boiler from scratch.

After 14 years of work, on July 3rd 2010, Sierra Railway 3 had officially returned to service, now restored to it's 1920's appearence. And pulled excursion trains once more.

In February 2022, Sierra Railway 3 would be taken out of service as Railtown 1897 State Historic Part decided to begin it's FRA mandated 1472 day inspection earlier than 2025.

Sierra Railway Number 3 is a legend in steam locomotive preservation. For all the movies and TV shows it starred it like Back to the Future 3, makes it a hollywood star on wheels.

Sierra Railway 3 got her first test fire in January 2025 and Railtown 1897 expected to be back under steam this Spring. So when she comes back, let's film her with our cameras!