Billy Jones Wildcat RR Turntable - Los Gatos, CA
Posted by: 
DougK
N 37° 14.198 W 121° 58.495
10S E 590925 N 4121615
The Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad is located in Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos, California and offers visitors a ride on a 1905 steam train.
Waymark Code: WM7GVB
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 10/24/2009
Views: 6
In 1939, Billy Jones, a railroad enthusiast, found and bought the little locomotive that has become the centerpiece of the
Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad. Billy restored the old "Number 2", a prairie type locomotive from the Venice Miniature Railway, in Venice, California. He constructed a small railroad at his ranch at the corner of Daves Avenue and Winchester Boulevard in Los Gatos, California. The Wildcat Railroad opened in 1943, making its first trip around his orchard. For 25 years children of all ages enjoyed riding this Billy's steam train.
After Billy's death in 1968, a non-profit corporation to purchase the railroad from the Jones estate and relocated it in a corner of
Oak Meadow Park and a portion of
Vasona Park in Los Gatos.
The
Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad opened in 1970. Today the Old Number 2 steam engine is supplemented by two diesel engine locomotives, numbers 2502 and 3502.
All three engines use this turntable after coming out of the nearby engine house. The passenger cars are keep in the engine house, as well. The turntable enables the engines to pull the passenger cars out onto the main line, then turn around and manuever in front of the passenger cars.