NoeHill Travels in California
Points of Interest in Mendocino County
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Skunk Train and Guest House Museum
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The bit of blue on the horizon at the right of the photograph is the Pacific Ocean
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(Click Photo to Zoom)
Skunk Train
100 West Laurel Street
Fort Bragg
Built 1885
100 West Laurel Street
Fort Bragg
Built 1885
By 1885, the Fort Bragg Railroad was formed to transport lumber to the mills. The railroad became the California Western Railroad, more commonly known as The Skunk.
The nickname, Skunk, originated in 1925, with the introduction of single-unit, gasoline-powered motorcars with pot-bellied stoves burning crude oil. The fumes created a pungent odor. Folks living along the line said these motorcars were like skunks: “You could smell them before you could see them.”
Source: Skunk Train website.