Robert Dollar Lumber Company
 Number 3

 Facts And Figures

Robert Dollar Lumber Company No. 3
Builder:  American Locomotive Company: Schenectady Works
Builders Number: 67544
Built Date:  November 1927
Wheel Arrangement:  2-6-2T
Gross Weight:  131,000  65.5 tons in working order
Cylinder dimensions:   15" bore by 24" stroke
Driver Diameter:  44"
Boiler Pressure:  200#
Tractive Effort:  20,900 lbs.


Robert Dollar No. 3

 By Chris Holombo & Johnathon Kruger

The No. 3 was built for the Walter A. Woodard Lumber Company of Cottage Grove, Oregon, in November 1927 by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Schenectady, New York. It was built as a wood burner, and is reportedly the last wood burning steam locomotive built for service in the USA. Through various owners, amazingly the locomotive always retained its number 3.

In 1942, J. H. Chambers & Son acquired the No. 3 when they purchased the Cottage Grove, Oregon lumber mill from the Woodard Company. Lorane Valley Lumber Company bought the Cottage Grove mill in 1946, and the No. 3 along with it. No. 3 was sold yet again in 1951 to The Robert Dollar Company of Glendale, Oregon.

The locomotive was modified twice during its operational life. While working for W.A. Woodard, the fuel bunker was extended past the rear buffer beam, presumably to give more wood capacity. While working for Robert Dollar Company, the locomotive was converted from wood firing to oil firing and a welded steel fuel tank was added.

The No. 3 worked for the Robert Dollar Company until 1959, when it was donated to the San Francisco Maritime Museum Association for a proposed transportation museum. That musuem did not materialize and today's Maritime Museum focuses only on ships and the maritime history of San Francisco. In 1978 the No. 3 was leased by, and later donated to, the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association (now called the Western Railway Museum) at Rio Vista Junction, California.

Restoration on the No. 3 at the Western Railway Museum began in 1979 and progressed to include completion of the boiler work. In 1999, with restoration incomplete, the Western Railway Museum donated the No. 3 to the Pacific Locomotive Association.
The No. 3 was moved to Niles Canyon piece-by-piece. All parts were loaded onto trucks for transport to the Niles Canyon Railway Brightside yard. Since the driving wheels had been removed for repair, the biggest effort was to move the boiler and frame out of the shop to where No. 3 could be loaded onto a truck. After the No. 3 arrived in Niles Canyon, restoration began to return the locomotive to her 1950s appearance in Robert Dollar Company lettering.

The No. 3 made its first movement under its own power in February of 2007, the first time in 48 years.  This concluded an 8 year restoration effort by the volunteers of the NCRy Brightside shop.  No. 3 is now the primary steam locomotive on the Niles Canyon Railway, hauling happy passengers during the spring and summers months.  

Last Updated 11/28/2008