Back Story: In the early 1950s, Walt Disney visited Billy Jones railroad on his 10-acre ranch in Los Gatos, CA. They established a long friendship between the families. On the opening day of Disneyland, Billy was given the honor of operating one of Walt’s steam locomotives that looped around the new park. Jones, a former engineer for the Southern Pacific Railroad opened his miniature railroad in 1943, offering free rides. It became a popular attraction over the next twenty-five years.
After his death in 1968, a grass roots effort was undertaken to keep the railroad in the community. Fundraising efforts were held and a new non profit organization was used to purchase the equipment from the Jones family. Volunteers constructed a roundhouse station, turntable and a quarter mile of tack at the new location in the back part of Oak Meadow Park. In 1970, the Billy Jones Railroad officially opened averaging 100,000 riders annually, becoming a true Silicon Valley success story.
I stopped to take a photo of an engine, that a volunteer was working on. His name is Kelly and was very friendly. He said he used to be a payed employee, and after retiring he stayed on as a volunteer, making it over 50 years working on train locomotives. I asked him if my old friend Tony Hoffman was still volunteering. He said, “yes and he cooks for all the volunteers every Tuesday." He offered to escort us into the working garage and let Tony know I was asking for him. It had been a long time since Tony and I lost touch. We hugged and chatted for about ten minutes and agreed to have lunch together soon.
Tony, a successful real estate agent and investor, and I met around 1977 at an EST seminar, a two weekend Personal Transformational program founded by Werner Erhard in 1971. We became fast friends. We traveled to Kenya, taking a camera safari in the late 1990s. Cecile and I attended his and his wife Jane’s annual October Fest parties. I also went sailing with him on the San Francisco Bay. Afterwards, Bill and I then had lunch at The Happy Hound before making our way back home.
Postscript: If you live locally, it would be worth your while to ride the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad around the park with your young kids or grandkids. In the winter, their weekend hours are from 10-3 pm.
Source: Some of the historical info: K. Middlebrook
