The National Bank Note Company, like all other private engraving and printing firms that created U.S. stamps between 1847 and 1893, also printed bank notes for U.S. banks. One of these was the Northwestern Bank of Warren, Pennsylvania. Northwestern's one-dollar note featured a right-facing, wood-burning train in its center foreground. NBNCo reused the design for the 3-cent locomotive stamp. Christian Rost, who engraved the 2-cent post rider, also engraved the 3-cent locomotive.
The use of a single 3-cent stamp on covers most often paid the half-ounce first-class domestic postage rate. Approximately 473,629,810 of these 3-cent stamps were printed by the National Bank Note Company and delivered to the Post Office Department. The 3-cent stamp was by far was the most dominant in terms of number printed, nearing eighty-two percent of the 1869 Issue. At the time of issue, the stamp was one of the most popular available.