Skunk Train still chugging along

OAKDALE, Calif. -- Trains are rumbling in northern California.

The Skunk Train on the northern coast reopened, the Sacramento RiverTrain was remodeled and programs were added to the Sierra Railroad in the states Central Valley.

Sierra Railroad, which operates all three trains, is owned by an investor group led by Mike Hart and his brother, Chris, who oversees the tourism end of the business as president of the Sierra Entertainment division.

Last year, the company bought the Skunk Train, one of the states best-known tourist trains, and brought it back to life. The Skunk had declared bankruptcy in 2003 after a lumber mill in Fort Bragg, Calif., (not to be confused with the military base in North Carolina) closed and its freight business ended.

The Harts and their partners bought the Skunk in bankruptcy court for $1.4 million and spent $1 million refurbishing the track in time to reopen the line for the 2004 summer season. To their surprise, 45,000 people traveled on the Skunk last year, despite little marketing or advertising about the reopening.

Chris Hart attributes the continued interest in the Skunk and other old railroads to the romance and nostalgia of riding behind a big locomotive.

The Skunk Train leaves its western terminus at Fort Bragg, a former lumber town on a scenic stretch of coastline just north of Mendocino, Calif., for a journey through the redwood country to the halfway point of Northspur, an old logging camp where there is a picnic area in a redwood grove alongside the Yolo River.

At Northspur, passengers can return to Fort Bragg or continue to Willits, an inland town on Highway 101 that has become known as the training grounds and burial place of the champion race horse Seabiscuit.

Built in 1885, the 40-mile route from Fort Bragg to Willits crosses some 30 bridges and trestles and passes through two mountain tunnels.

The segment between Northspur and Willits reopened May 28 after a three-year closure, enabling passengers to take the entire route from Fort Bragg to Willits or vice versa. The route is popular for those who want to see the entire line, particularly tour groups that take a one-way trip with their motorcoach waiting at the other city.

The train has open observation cars and covered cars, including a vintage 1925 M-100 motorcar, the only remaining train car of its kind in use. During the busier summer months, a 1924 Baldwin steam engine pulls the Skunk.

The name Skunk was derived from the yellow rail cars used by the logging companies beginning in the mid-1920s. The self-powered cars with their gas engines were named Skunk because of their smell.

This year, the Skunk Train added an overnight trip in which passengers leave Willits or Fort Bragg, then meet with another train at Northspur. Passengers switch trains for the second leg of their trip and spend two nights at Fort Bragg or Willits.

The company boosted travel agent commission to 20% in order to reintroduce the Skunk Train and its new packages.

Other new products are an afternoon trip from Fort Bragg to Northspur for a barbecue and an evening trip on the same route with the redwood groves illuminated by the trains floodlights.

The Sacramento RiverTrain, based in Woodland, 15 minutes north of Sacramento, features excursions through the Yolo Wildlife Refuge and across the longest wooden bridge in the West. The train travels along the Sacramento River through farmland for a 28-mile roundtrip.

The train is being relaunched this year with the addition of four new cars, a new interior decor, a new exterior paint job and new logo. The schedule has been extended to year-round, with more special itineraries, such as sunset barbecues and murder-mystery trips.

The companys third product, the Sierra Railroad Dinner Train, leaves from Oakdale (about two hours east of San Francisco) for sunset dinner trips that typically include Wild West shows and actors impersonating Gary Cooper, Clint Eastwood and other actors who starred in films and TV shows that used the Central Valley as a set.

A new trip this year is Rail & Raft, in which passengers ride the Sierra Railroad to a point on the Stanislaus River and then raft back down the river on a guided trip.

Besides the Skunk Train, the towns other main attraction is the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, 47 acres of landscaped grounds that lie between Highway One and the bluffs of the Pacific Ocean.

About 50,000 people visit the gardens every year. They are open daily, except on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Admission is $7.50 for those age 18 and older, $6 for seniors 60 and over and $3 for children 13 to 17. For more information on the gardens, call (707) 964-4352 or visit www.gardenbythesea.com.

To contact reporter Laura Del Rosso, send e-mail to [email protected].