Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad

The Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad in Los Gatos, California, is a heartfelt legacy of Billy Jones, a veteran Southern Pacific engineer who operated his beloved 18-inch gauge Wildcat Railroad on his ranch every Sunday for neighborhood children — free of charge — until his death in 1968. One of his regular visitors was Walt Disney, who became a close friend and invited Jones to serve as honorary engineer at Disneyland on opening weekend in 1955. After Jones passed, a group of community members formed a non-profit to preserve and relocate the railroad to Oak Meadow and Vasona Parks, where it opened in July 1970. Today, the one-third scale, 18-inch gauge railroad runs a 1-mile route over Los Gatos Creek on a bridge built from a salvaged Southern Pacific flatcar, hauled by the original 1905 steam locomotive or a historic diesel, and attracts over 100,000 riders annually. An antique carousel also operates alongside the railroad; hours vary by season, with the train running on weekends year-round and daily during summer.