The California Western Railroad (reporting mark CWR), AKA Mendocino Railway popularly called the Skunk Train, is a rail freight and heritage railroad transport railway in Mendocino County, California, United States, running from the railroad's headquarters in the coastal town of Fort Bragg to the interchange with the Northwestern Pacific Railroad at Willits.
Along the way, the tracks cross some 30 single bridges and trestles and pass through two deep mountain tunnels. The halfway point, short of Northspur, is a popular meal and beverage spot for the railroad's passengers.
Locomotive Roster[]
- Current Locomotives:
| Number | Images | Heritage | Type | Builder | Built | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45 |  |
Brownlee-Olds Lumber Co. | 2-8-2 | Baldwin Locomotive Works | 1924 | Overhaul | |
| 64 | 
|
Southern Pacific Railroad | EMD GP9 | Electro-Motive Diesel | 1955 | Operational | |
| 65 | 
|
Southern Pacific Railroad | EMD GP9 | Electro-Motive Diesel | 1955 | Operational | |
| 66 | 
|
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway | EMD GP9 | Electro-Motive Diesel | 1956 | Operational | |
| M-100 | 
|
Moorhead & North Forks Railroad | Motor Car | Edwards Rail Car Company | 1925 | Operational | |
| M-300 | 
|
Salt Lake, Garfield and Western Railway | Motor Car | American Car and Foundry Company | 1937 | Operational |
- Former Locomotives:
| Number | Images | Heritage | Type | Builder | Built | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 
|
Fruit Growers Supply | 2-6-2T | Baldwin Locomotive Works | 1924 | Sold in 1956. Currently being restored. |
| 21 | 
|
2-6-2 | Baldwin Locomotive Works | 1920 | Now on static display at a suger mill in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico. | |
| 44 | 
|
2-8-2 | Baldwin Locomotive Works | 1930 | Scrapped | |
| 46 |  |
Weyerhaeuser Lumber | Steam | Baldwin Locomotive Works | 1937 | Now on static display at the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in Campo, CA. |
| 57 | 
|
Southern Pacific Railroad | S-12 | Baldwin Locomotive Works | 1953 | Retired |
| 55 | 
|
McCloud River Railroad | RS-12 | Baldwin Locomotive Works | 1955 | Scrapped in 1995. |
| 56 | 
|
McCloud River Railroad | RS-12 | Baldwin Locomotive Works | 1955 | Now on static display at the Travel Town Museum in Los Angeles, CA. |
| 62 | 
|
Southern Pacific Railroad | ALCO RS-11 | American Locomotive Company | 1959 | It was sold to the Napa Valley Wine Train in 1989. |
| 63 | 
|
Southern Pacific Railroad | RS-11 | American Locomotive Company | 1955 | Unkown |
| M-200 | 
|
Longview, Portland and Northern Railway | 6-46 Motor Car | Skagit Steel & Iron Works, MAC Division | January 1926 |
Visiting Locomotives:
| Photograph | Locomotive | Builder | Build date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Santa Cruz Portland Cement No. 2 | H.K. Porter, Inc. | 1909 | Operational |
Trivia[]
- Pop Singer Michelle Lambert performed weekly shows on the Skunk Train during her teenage years.
- In 2019, the railroad purchased 77 acres (31 ha) of the former Fort Bragg Georgia-Pacific mill for redevelopment and extending service to a new terminal. In 2021, they acquired an additional 270-acre (110 ha) site from Georgia-Pacific.
- The CWR runs steam and diesel-powered trains and rail motor cars through Redwood forests along Pudding Creek and the Noyo River.
- In the 2010s, the railroad had numerous issues with Tunnel #1, the longer of the two tunnels located 3.5 miles outside Fort Bragg:
- On April 11, 2013, the tunnel experienced a cave-in, trapping all equipment in Fort Bragg. Relief came on June 19 when the Save the Redwoods League purchased a conservation easement along the entire line, more than enough to pay for the tunnel's reopening, which was achieved by August. Had the railroad been unable to reopen the tunnel, it would have had no choice but to close permanently.
- The second closure occurred following the 2015-16 El Nino season, this time a landslide. Unlike the 2013 closure, the railroad had equipment stationed in Willits, allowing it to run trains out of Willits to Northspur (by 2018, however, this was cut back to Wolf Tree due to fire damage on bridges). In response to the landslide, the railroad built the Glen Blair Bar and introduced railbike excursions, which became so popular that other heritage railroads around the country introduced their own railbike excursions. The railroad lacked the funds to rebuild the tunnel, and applied for a Department of Transportation BUILD grant in 2018, a grant that was rejected in February 2019 (it was initially suspected that the grant was rejected due to California being a blue state, but it was later revealed that the railroad's application was in the top-third of those sent, and the DoT encouraged the railroad to re-apply). Eventually, the railroad (and its parent company, Sierra Railway) received a $31.4 million Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) loan from the Build America Bureau on January 29, 2024. On May 6, the railroad announced that work to reopen the tunnel would commence on May 28, but as of August 2024, there have been no updates regarding the tunnel's status, possibly due to a legal battle between the railroad and Senator Mark McGuire, who seeks to strip the railroad of its common carrier status via adverse abandonment due to this status being an obstacle to the Great Redwood Trail, as otherwise, there would instead be an effort to reconnect the railroad to the national network, a connection that was severed in 1998 (a similar tactic was attempted by rail-hostile NIMBYs in Santa Cruz County against Roaring Camp in 2022, also for a rail-trail, but this effort was met with backlash from both the public and various organizations, both government and private, and a measure to railbank the Santa Cruz Branchline was soundly defeated in the June primary).