Skunk Train

Fort Bragg is the western terminus of the California Western Railroad (otherwise known locally as the "Skunk Train"). Steam passenger service was started in 1904, and then extended in 1911 through the Coast Redwood forests to the city of Willits, 40 miles (64 km) inland. Started in 1885 as a rail route for moving large logs to the mills, the Skunk Train now offers scenic tours through the redwoods. In 1925 self-powered, yellow "Skunk" rail cars were inaugurated. The little trains were quickly nicknamed for their original gas engines, which prompted folks to say, "You can smell 'em before you can see 'em." In 1965 the line reintroduced summer steam passenger service between Fort Bragg and Willits with Baldwin-built steam locomotives Nos. 45 and 46, calling the colorful train "The Super Skunk". That train was discontinued in 2001 owing to the embargo of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, then revived in September 2006 as a special event train. No.45 continues to power excursion trains from Fort Bragg as far as Northspur, the CWR's midpoint, on selected weekends summer to early autumn. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bragg,_California#Transportation

The Skunk Train, originally built in 1885 to transport redwood lumber from the rugged hinterland to the coast, now shuttles tourists between the inland port town of Fort Bragg and the cowboy town of Willits on California's North Coast. Two trips are offered year-round: the one-hour Pudding Creek Express, a seven-mile round trip that departs from Fort Bragg, and the Wolf Tree Turn, a two-hour trip departing from Willitis that en route to the dense redwoods Noyo River Canyon reaches the highest point of the route (with a height of 530 m).