The first railfan excursion in the western United States operated over the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad on 23 May 1937. Fan trips expanded quickly, and west coast railfans- at the time predominately clustered in the major population centers of San Francisco and Los Angeles- organized several railfan organizations to handle the details associated with chartering excursions over various railroads.

The first railfan excursion over the McCloud River Railroad operated on 12 June 1948. Thirty excursionists rode in three cabooses tacked onto the end of the daily freight to Pondosa. The excursionists ate lunch at the lumber company cookhouse before returning to McCloud. The Western Railroader magazine proclaimed the trip to be the best yet operated on the west coast. The second and third railfan excursions operated on consecutive weekends in June 1950. On Saturday, 10 June, the Northern California Railroad Club sponsored an excursion that operated from McCloud to Lookout and return, and then on 17 June the railroad operated a McCloud to Pondosa excursion as part of the Pacific Coast Region of the National Model Railroad Association annual convention, held that year in Dunsmuir. Both of these excursions used either the #26 or #27, gondolas and coaches leased from the Southern Pacific, and McCloud cabooses. The final excursions of the early era operated in 1953. The Northern California Railroad Club sponsored a "Pondosa Logger" featuring the #25 hauling six log loads, a gondola, and three cabooses from McCloud to Pondosa on 23 May, followed on 22 June 1953 with a second excursion making the round trip to Pondosa. Other than the 1955 specials marking completion of the Burney line, the 1953 trips proved to be the last until the #25 started its excursion career in 1962.