Gualala River Railroad

The Gualala River Railroad was a logging railroad in Mendocino County, California. At its peak, it operated 22 mi of track built to a unique broad gauge of 5 ft.

As an arm of the mill and lacking passenger service, the railroad was owned by several companies over its lifetime. These included the Gualala Mill Company, the Empire Redwood Company, E.B. Salsig Lumber Company, American Redwood Company, and National Redwood Company.

History
The initial segment of railway was built as a horse-drawn tramway to haul lumber from the Gualala Mill Company to Bourn's Landing — it began running shortly after the mill's opening in 1860. Motive power was converted to steam operations in 1875, with the railroad extending to 10 mi of track by 1891. The railroad did not operate between 1907 and 1911 after the lumber mill was destroyed in a fire; it also did not operate between 1915 and 1916. The railroad ceased operating for good in 1922. Rails were taken up and shipped to Japan for reuse in 1936.

Broad gauge
The unusual gauge was selected to allow horses to be teamed two-abreast between the rails. The tramway was initially laid to standard gauge, and the company's two horses would fight to take the center of the track. When the driver complained to management, they had the rails relaid to five feet. This was still found insufficient to mitigate the issue, and the gauge was finally enlarged to 5 ft, which persisted through the life of the railroad. It was the widest gauge deployed on a railroad in the western United States.