| While the majority of Caspar Lumber Company’s railroad equipment felt the wrath of the cutting torch in the late 1950s, a few remnant pieces have survived, including Caspar’s second locomotive, the Daisy, now on display in Fort Bragg and owned by the State of California. Caspar Lumber Company operated from 1861 until 1955 at Caspar, California, located between Fort Bragg and Mendocino. The company railroad started life as the Jughandle Railroad, and went through two changes as the line extended farther into the forests, first to Caspar & Hare Creek, and later to Caspar, South Fork & Eastern. The route to the woods passed over many splendid trestles, through a tunnel from the Hare Creek drainage to the Noyo River drainage, up and over several ridges via inclines, around innumerable curves, all on light 40 pound rail. Although a connection to the east with the transcontinental railroad system near Willits was always contemplated, it never happened, as well as a planned connection with Union Lumber Company’s California Western Railroad at Southfork.
The Redwood Strike of 1946 brought an end to the railroad operations, and the railroad never reopened, the company choosing instead to operate with trucks. The only remaining railroad operation was a once a month trip from Caspar with locomotive #3, the Smilax. The engine hauled a tank car of oil up to a steam donkey converted to burn oil, that was used to construct a log deck for the sawmill. The tank car was built on a pair of Caspar’s disconnect log trucks. This set of disconnect trucks served to haul the oil tank and is one of very few sets of Caspar logging bobbies known to exist. Only two of Caspar’s locomotives had air brakes, so all of the disconnect trucks used a hand set brake system and several brakemen to help control the train. These disconnect trucks were donated to Roots of Motive Power by Ferne Rudolph in 1991.
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