page_title: Billy Jones (railroader)
section_title: Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad
hierarchical_section_title: Billy Jones (railroader) / Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad
caption_attribution_description: Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad
context_page_description: William Jones, a seasoned veteran of the steam era who established the Wildcat Railroad in Los Gatos, California, was born the son of a teamster in the town of Ben Lomond, California, USA.
  Jones found employment as an engine wiper at the age of 13 with the 3 ft narrow gauge South Pacific Coast Railroad at Boulder Creek, California. At 17, Jones was promoted to fireman, and later became an engineer. The South Pacific Coast Railroad, which had been acquired by the Southern Pacific Railroad, was converted to a standard gauge road by 1909. Jones was among the first to work the first standard gauge portions of the line out of San Jose, ultimately advancing to the Coast Daylight run between San Francisco and San Luis Obispo. After World War II, he was in charge of the reassembly of the preserved locomotive Gov. Stanford for Stanford University; the locomotive is currently on display at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.
  Jones married Geraldine McGrady, the schoolteacher at Wright's Station, located south of Los Gatos.
context_section_description: On the docks of San Francisco in 1939, Jones discovered an 18 in (457 mm) gauge steam locomotive built in 1905 and designed to run on the Venice Miniature Railway in Venice Beach, California. He bought the little engine, nicknamed the 2-spot, for $100 and got it running again on a miniature railway he and his railroad buddies constructed on the ranch, dubbed the "Wildcat Railroad".
  His only sons Robert and Neal were casualties of World War II, and Jones operated his "Wildcat Railroad" for the neighborhood children, every Sunday until his death in 1968 in memory of his two lost sons. The railroad attracted people from across the valley and beyond, including Walt Disney, who considered purchasing some of Jones' collection of miniature railway equipment. The two became friends, and Jones was behind the throttle of Disney's 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge locomotives on opening weekend at Disneyland on July 17, 1955. In addition, the Wildcat Railroad's logo, depicting a smiling cartoon wildcat with an engineer's cap, was designed by Disney animator Ward Kimball.
  Jones retired from the Southern Pacific Company in 1949. In January 1959, it is said Jones ceremoniously ran the last train out of Los Gatos before the rails were taken up throughout the town.
  Jones died of leukemia in 1968 at the age of 83, and his "Wildcat Railroad" was purchased by local residents who formed a non-profit organization to relocate and operate it at Oak Meadow Park and Vasona Park in Los Gatos (a plaque on a wall at the corner of Winchester and Daves marks the original location of the railroad). The railroad opened for regular operations in July 1970 after nearly two years of restoration and construction, which included salvaging an 89-foot (27.13 m) Southern Pacific piggyback flatcar from a wreck and using it as a bridge over Los Gatos Creek. In 1972, a one-and-a-half-mile (2.4 km) extension was built, adding a working grade with a 40-foot (12.19 m) trestle and bringing the railroad into Vasona Park, an extension built following complaints that the ride was too short (the original route simply went around Squirrel Hill and came back, the bridge over the creek being double-tracked so the train could run in both directions to even out the wear on the rails; after the extension, it remained double-tracked until the mid-1990s, when it was single-tracked, and fencing was added between the two pedestrian paths and the tracks). By 1992, the railroad was averaging well over 100,000 riders each year.
  It was also in 1992 that the railroad acquired its first diesel locomotive. Previously, the railroad had solely operated the steam locomotive that Billy had discovered in San Francisco in 1939. Realizing the need for a larger locomotive fleet, the railroad pursued options to acquire a more reliable diesel locomotive. Local businessman and railroad enthusiast Albert B. Smith purchased a brand new diesel-hydraulic locomotive from Chicago Locomotive Works and donated the locomotive to the railroad. Smith died a year later, and the diesel was, in later years, named for him.
  In 1994, the 2-spot was in need of a new boiler and complete overhaul. In the meantime, the new diesel, dubbed #2502 and painted in the Southern Pacific's Black Widow paint scheme, would serve as the primary locomotive of the railroad for eleven years. After a ten year restoration project, the 2-spot finally returned to service in July 2005. The occasion marked the 100th birthday of the steam locomotive and also celebrated the 35th anniversary of the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad in Vasona Park
  The railroad purchased another diesel locomotive in 2006 and dubbed it #3502. It wears the colors of the Chicago and North Western Railway. #3502 started construction at the Chicago Locomotive Works, but was finished by the Merrick Light Railway Works after CLW went under (CLW had a history of trying to scam the railroad). 3502 was later named Larry H. Pederson, in honor of a railroad board member. Both diesels, built in the style of an EMD GP60M, continue to operate weekdays during summer and weekends during wi
caption: The 2-spot on the turn table
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