Jones found employment as an engine wiper at the age of 13 with the 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge South Pacific Coast Railroad at Boulder Creek, California.

After settling down in Los Gatos on a 9-acre (3.6 ha) prune orchard known as "The Ranch", the Jones family grew to include two sons, Robert and Neal, and two daughters, Betty and Geraldine.

The railroad attracted people from across the valley and beyond, including Walt Disney, who considered purchasing some of Jones' collection of miniature railway equipment, before deciding he wanted larger trains.

The two became friends, and Jones was behind the throttle of Disney's 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge locomotives on opening weekend at Disneyland on July 17, 1955.

Jones died of leukemia in 1968 at the age of 83, and his "Wildcat Railroad" was purchased by local residents who formed a non-profit organization to relocate and operate it at Oak Meadow Park and Vasona Park in Los Gatos (a plaque on a wall at the corner of Winchester and Daves marks the original location of the railroad).

[2] In 1972, a one-and-a-half-mile (2.4 km) extension was built, adding a working grade with a 40-foot (12.19 m) trestle and bringing the railroad into Vasona Park, an extension built following complaints that the ride was too short; the original route simply went around Squirrel Hill (named so for its large squirrel population) and came back, the bridge over the creek being double-tracked so the train could run in both directions to even out the wear on the locomotive's wheels; after the extension, it remained double-tracked until the mid-1990s, when it was single-tracked, and fencing was added between the two pedestrian paths and the tracks; two sections of the mainline that parallel each other are the last remnant of the original route); there has been talk of extending the railroad around Vasona Lake, but this would require at least two grade crossings over county-owned roads, and several tunnels and bridges (including one in front of the Vasona Dam gates), and is unlikely to ever happen.

A third diesel, #4, built in 2008 by volunteer Tom Waterfall in the style of a Davenport Locomotive Works locomotive, is used in work train service, and also sees use as a yard switcher; it is the only diesel on the railroad with separate throttle and reverser levers, and rides rougher due to its 0-4-0 wheel arrangement as opposed to the normal B-B arrangement.

#5 is identical to locomotive #1919, which operates at the Little Amerricka Amusement Park in Marshall, Wisconsin, the only difference being that #1919 runs on a gauge two inches narrower than the BJWRR.

Both locomotives are operated on Billy Jones Day, usually the last Sunday of the month, taking turns running trains and even running a doubleheader; in 2021, to make up for the railroad not being able to commemorate its 50th anniversary in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the railroad ran two-train operations for the first time (and most likely only time, due to how complex it was, often leaving entire trains of passengers waiting at the mainline switch in direct sunlight) in its history.

The locomotive was planned to be restored to operation, but was eventually sold to volunteer Ken Middlebrook when it was determined that the 3-spot was too small to handle the trains.

The Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad also operates a historic Savage carousel named after one of the organization's founders, William "Bill" Mason.

The carousel is located next to the railroad's depot in Oak Meadow Park and has its own unique history, having taken part in the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.