California Western Freight Train

Photo by Cliff West

The California Western Railroad was originally built in 1885 by the Fort Bragg Lumber Company as the Fort Bragg Railroad. In 1904, passenger service was inaugurated. On July 1, 1905, the railroad was renamed the California Western Railroad & Navigation Company. The railroad was completed to Willits and a connection with the Northwestern Pacific Railroad on December 11, 1911. Self-propelled gas-powered railcars were added for passenger service in 1925, they were nicknamed "skunks" because of the smell of their exhaust. The "skunks" soon took over passenger service, and regular steam-powered passenger train service ended in November 1929.  On December 19, 1947, the name was shortened to California Western Railroad. In June 1987, the California Western was sold to Kyle Railways.

Photo by Cliff West

California Western GP9R #64 is pictured arriving in Fort Bragg with a freight train on March 17, 1992. It was originally built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in January 1955 as Southern Pacific #5607. In 1965 it was renumbered to #3444. It was rebuilt at Southern Pacific's Sacramento General Shops to GP9R #3311 on May 11, 1970. It was retired by Southern Pacific on December 17, 1986 and sold to Metal Processing, Inc. in Vinton, Texas on January 2, 1988. It was resold later that year to Kyle Railways as #1750, and was transferred to the California Western in May 1989.

The second locomotive is California Western RS11 #62. It was originally built by Alco Products in April 1959 as Southern Pacific #5854. In 1965 it was renumbered to #2919. It was sold to Kyle Railways on January 10, 1980, and was later assigned to the California Western.