Sierra Railroad's number 3 engine as the Hooterville Cannonball. Buy the video from the link below to encourage more of the Petticoat Junction series to be brought to DVD. www.amazon.com/Petticoat-Junc...
Spent most of my life in that area. Walked every inch of that track at least once, from Jamestown down to Waterford, hunting small game and varmints. Later, cheese and wine sunset rides on the train. And the Westside and Cherry Valley rail bed out of Tuolumne City, too. The timber trestle across the river was still there. Left 30 years ago but these videos still make me homesick for the Mother Lode country.
Can it still be done are the pastures still there or are buildings in there place also is the water tower , still there ? I would love to walk that area just to see the place .
@@Jay-vr9ir BLM turned the Red Hills into a flatlanders' walking, interpretive, nature trail. The B2TF3 town burned down years ago (a friend of mine, since deceased, milled all the lumber used to make the town). Haven't been to Railtown 1897 in 30 years, so I don't know about the tower. The background props from Little House On The Prairie, visible in B2TF3, are gone as well. There was a National Guard firing range there, where they did maneuvers for two weeks a year every summer and they'd usually set the mountain on fire with an errant tracer or two just about every time. I imagine you can still walk the tracks, but it's best in early spring due to that same fire hazard. Might be trespassing, though, I don't know. Greenup has begun and the wild flowers...well, there's just no prettier place on earth than the Sierra foothills in spring.
The Cannonball. What I wouldn’t give to take it and spend two weeks at The Shady Rest, enjoy listening to Uncle Joe’s tall tales, have some of Kate Bradley’s immortal cooking, have a cup of coffee on the porch, see Kathy Jo (Steve and Bobby Jo’s daughter) growing up, and visit Sam Drucker’s store. Plus, sympathize with Oliver Wendell Douglas on why he chose the Haney House over New York. *sigh*
You’re both wrong. This locomotive was built by the Roman Empire in the 5th century A.D. to run right down the grooves made by the chariots. Come on, do some research.
About 8 years ago I was at a whistle blow in Youngstown, Ohio and one of the whistles being blown was identified as a Southern Pacific homemade 5 chime. When they blew it, it was exactly the same sound as the whistle in this show. The sound for the Cannonball I'm sure came from the studio sound archive, probably from decades before, recorded locally in the Los Angles area. So my guess is that in their recording of sound effects they got the Southern Pacific to blow one of those whistles for them over and over in various combinations, and that is where the sound for the train came from. I have heard other whistles on RU-vid that are SP 5 chimes, but don't sound exactly like this one, so my guess is that since they were homemade there are slight variations in the tone from one to the other. As for the name of the railroad, I read a recounting of the making of the show from someone involved in it who said that the name of the railroad was an inside joke by producer Paul Henning. It stood for "Charlie and Floyd's Wacky Railroad". Paul's daughter, Linda Kaye Henning played the youngest sister, redhead Betty Jo Bradley, for all seven seasons, the only one of the daughters played by the same actress for the entire series.
Yeah, probably just a stock recording on the show. Sierra No. 3's actual whistle, according to Rizzoli Locomotive Works, who just recently restored it, is a 5-inch Lima 5-chime from a Shay.
@@gabrielbennett5162 Actually, recently on another YT clip I commented on, someone who said they worked on the original TV production said the sound came from another Sierra Ry loco whistle, probably a Lunkenheimer 3 chime short bell. I've never heard one for sure, but it's possible, Lunkenheimers were fairly common in the U. S. for smaller locomotives.
@@gabrielbennett5162From what i have seen, she actually wasn't wearing her Lima 5 Chime yet. You can see in the various clips that the whistle she's wearing is not a step-top like her Lima 5.
Believe it or not, it wasn't. They had some really good editors on Petticoat Jct/Green Acres, and it wasn't unlike them to try to sync even the little sound effects like that to make things more believable.
@@jeremiahwilliams7809 It was an 1890's train running in the 1960's. It wasn't going to last forever and as Bedloe said it didn't make any money. In the movie Return to Green Acres you can see the Cannonball tracks are gone so that means the train was scrapped at some point.
The closeup exterior and interior set has 4 windows on each side and the Sierra#3 outdoor location shots have 3. It was 1963, we didn't care. We could tell they were soundstages in many scenes on many shows Beaver to Brady, but we didn't care if TV was realistic.
The other day I was watching "High Noon" w Gary Cooper and when the train arrived at noon with the bad guy I saw the number on the train engine and recognized it right off. It was the Hooterville cannonball for sure. I looked it up and that engine which had been manufactured in Paterson NJ was owned by the Hollywood studios and appeared in countless movies and television.
It was rented by the studios and is known as "The Movie Train". It was used many times in Hollywood history... Clint Eastwood has used it several times, "Back To The Future 3" used it (it was a 3/4 scale prop train that was destroyed at the end), "Little House on the Prairie" used it a bunch, "High Noon" and even the Marx Brothers used it in "Go West" back in the 30's.... #3 was rebuilt a few years ago and is drawn out from time to time for excursion, or exhibition, runs....
Later in the series the "3" on the locomotive was changed to an "8" so they could flip the film if they had to. Some of the shots of the Cannonball running in the earlier seasons showed the 3 backwards.
I was surprised to learn that there is a part of the smoke box at the front end of the boiler, that is called a "petticoat". It is a venturi that directs exhaust steam from the cylinders to the smokestack. This venturi creates the draft that stokes the fire in the firebox.
I wish someone would create a virtual 3-D hooterville world where you can go to the shade rest, druckers store, visit the "old haney place" (Douglas Farm), ride the cannon ball, etc.
@@rotunda57 Wood-burners definitely don't smoke all that much. They are best photographed in the winter, when they produce nice, white steam plumes. Putting a little oil on the wood will provide black smoke. Of course, in the case of Sierra #3, and the Hooterville Cannonball, the whole wood-burning thing is all a ruse. Underneath that pile of wood is an oil tank. That locomotive has been an oil-burner for over 100 years. She can make black smoke with just a touch of the firing lever.
@@kevinmadore1794 Depends on the wood, if you throw a big heap in there or it's green (not dried out sufficiently) it'll kick up a wad of black smoke that'll make the passengers choke and the crew cuss as the pressure falls away. Some species of tree also just burn smokier than others due to natural oils and so on in the wood. As in any other steam loco, smoke means the fire isn't burning completely, so you've either got too much fuel on or not enough air going through, though most of the time with a woodburner the former is harder to do since wood burns up fairly quickly and doesn't have as high a calorific content as coal or oil...plus then you gotta deal with the ashes and sparks it kicks up (those old diamond stacks aren't for show). Sierra 3 is an oil burner as mentioned previously, so the wood and the diamond stack are on for appearance's sake to make her look old to fit the tv show's setting. V&T 25 "Inyo" and Eureka and Palisade #4 "Eureka" are still active wood-chewers though.
@@Shipwright1918 The other tough thing about riding behind a wood-burner is sparks, particularly if the locomotive is working hard uphill. I recall about 10 years back riding behind Eureka on the Durango & Silverton between Hermosa and Rockwood. The spark-show was unbelievable, even with the big Radley & Hunter Stack. Someone left the front door to the caboose open and I saw sparks the size of a quarter flying down the center aisle. Observing from the cupola, I was really glad I had tucked my gear away along the wall and out of the line of fire. It will be interesting to see how they handle the fire danger with Eureka and Glenbrook in a couple of weeks out at the C&TS. On the east side of the railroad, it's a desert and there will be no issues. The real risk will be when they try to run up the 4% to Cumbres Pass toward the end of the event. I suspect that there will be an enhanced fire patrol following those two engines wherever they go.
@@kevinmadore1794 Well, it is possible to build a stack that'll completely sequester the sparks, but it also completely sequesters the blast and the draft, so in reality it's a compromise. Was firing a miniature woodburner not long ago and it spat sparks when it was working hard. One particularly big one came up and bounced off the brim of my hat, wasn't until the end of the day I found it it had burnt a big hole in the back of my shirt. Coal will do it too if we're being honest, that's why they eventually converted 3985, kept setting fires up and down Sherman Hill and they had to have a fire team follow her around. SP 2248 survived long enough to be saved as that was what she was used for in the end, a firefighting engine with big monitors and pumps on her to put out fires set by the big power and helpers up in the mountains.
I just noticed that in the ground level shots showing the shady rest stop and the water tank, it looks like there are tarps or netting trying to hide a track in the foreground. Never noticed that before.
Not Raymond Burr......Dale Robertson and Gary Collins were the stars.....but YES, I do remember that series. I think it lasted 2 seasons. The opening credits included some nice scenes of the train and were different each season. The train included Sierra #3 as well as both the "shorty" coach and combine. I believe the short coach was used as the lead character, Ben Calhoun's private car. Tiny cars. I have been inside both. When I first saw them in 2010, both looked like they were being held together by the paint. I believe that some restoration has since been done. I think only the coach is in any condition to run.
Oh wow! This show brings back so many memories of PETTICOAT JUNCTION & GREEN ACRES! I've been a fan of both these & The CANNONBALL EXPRESS since I was a baby! There was an HO SCALE model several years ago from BACHMANN TRAINS of the CANNONBALL EXPRESS! 1897?! Now that's a Nostalgia Train! I love these videos. 😍👍
The Bachmann "Cannonball Express" set, unfortunately, has a diesel locomotive and bears no relation to any of Sierra #3's TV shows. The only model ever produced of Sierra #3 was by Tyco/Mantua in the 1970s, and it was a poorly detailed and grossly oversized model. There was a white metal kit produced briefly as well, this one correctly scaled, but it's almost impossible to find. It seems the only way to get an accurate model of Sierra #3 is to build one yourself.
Quite a remarkable fictional locomotive, considering that it was, according to the story line, running every day, and had no access to a workshop for overhauls
I would love to live in Mayberry, but even more in Petticoat Junction at the Shady Rest. No roads, no TV, no phone. And if I need anything, take the Cannonball to Sam Drucker's. If Sam ain't got it, or cain't get it, I don't need it.
I guess it was assumed that it was turned on the nearby depot turntable but I don't think the turntable was shown in this series. It was shown in the 1957 Casey Jones series using the same locomotive.
There was a turntable at Jamestown engine house and then waaaaaay down the line, around Cooperstown there was a Y..... I believe both are still operational, not sure....
It is the Sierra Railway at Jamestown California in the foothills of Sierra's. The railway runs from Oakdale to a little beyond Jamestown, a distance of about 40 miles. It has been used by Hollywood forever. My late friend Mr. Richard Reynolds was responsible for the resumption of excursions on the railway in the late 1960's. The railway itself is separately owned from the Railtown Historic Park in Jamestown.
Sadly the water tower you see in this show burned down in one of those sweeping California fires. A new water tower was built on the same spot but the tank is smaller.
Yes the locomotive did derail and roll on it's side early in it's life. It originally had a wooden cab but after the derailment was rebuilt with a metal one. The engine never derailed on the show though.
Probably because it was losing money to keep the line open and maintained for what little traffic there was out to the junction. Just one little sawed-off combination coach? A handful of passengers on a good day, and maybe a little mail and express is all you're gonna fit in there. Not enough revenue to offset the cost of running the locomotive and paying the crew, nevermind keeping the track up and seeing some profit out of it. Now if they were pulling freight too, that'd probably more than make up for it, it'd just be a mixed train instead of passengers only. Many real-life railroads resorted to using doodlebugs (self-propelled coaches) ro run operations like this. Much cheaper to run than a locomotive hauled train, didn't have to keep the tracks up as much, and only took one or two guys to run them.
The President had just announced the entire C&FW was now diesel... When he discovered the isolated shortline existed. Bedloe was sent to close it down. When he tried, Kate and Sheriff Sam Druker presented him with a giant bill for decades of free wood and maintenance. If he appealed, it had yo go before Judge Sam Druker. So he was beaten snd returned to HQ. The President had simultaneously decided to clear it all out, building new steel and concrete modern lines and bridges to shave six hrs off the Chicago Express. President went there and fell in love with Kate and Hooterville... so changed his mind and actually called in all his mogul buddies to overhaul the locomotive. It was the first three episodes and the Christmas Train episode. After that for Bedloe it was just a personal grudge once or twice every season.
@@Shipwright1918 it cost C&FW nothing to run the Cannonball as Kate explained. Charlie and Floyd were on pensions, drove her for fun, and the valley provided wood and repairs for free. The station had been empty for years. The Train stopped at Drukers Store, the Shady Rest platform (and water tank) and the Pixley platform.
