When the UP closed the west end of the Phoenix Sub, it meant that the Sunset Limited would no longer serve Phoenix directly. Maricopa, some 25 miles to the south, became the default Phoenix Amtrak stop. Without going into the history behind it, the Silver Horizon was available and was turned into the Amtrak depot. Eventually, it was replaced with a more permanent “Amshack.”
The Silver Horizon sits on a section of track to the back of the Amtrak parking lot and over time has been physically deteriorating. Recently, however, the Maricopa Historical Society purchased it from the owner, Pima County. There are hopes of moving and restoring it. A story at the local Maricopa news site tells more:
Before the recession, it was the subject of a tug-of-war between Maricopa and nearby Casa Grande, both of whom wanted to give it a permanent home, despite its having no historical connection to either city or to Arizona railroading.
In response to Mr. Timm’s above informative posts on dome car Silver Horizon in Maricopa, AZ, the following are photos of the car at dawn on October 1, 2016.
Those above shots were taken after Amtrak No. 2 had arrived and departed the Maricopa, AZ depot, just a few hundred feet south of the Silver Horizon on display.
It is hoped the above photos makes the two news report posts of Mr. Timm more alive!
I thought I would update desertdog’s thread on the fate of Silver Horizon since I was by there earlier this month, for those that may not follow the “Sunset Route Two-Tracking Updates” thread, which the included photos herein were originally posted in.
Evening shots of January 14, 2018 at Amtrak station in Maricopa:
January 15, 2018 views:
West, side-viewing the present Highway 347 alignment:
Northwest, with buildings still in the way:
Southeast from the platform of Silver Horizon looking towards the new, future overpass alignment of Highway 347:
Earlier this year (2019), the Silver Horizon was finally moved from by the Maricopa, AZ Amtrak station grounds to its new home a few blocks to the east:
Its previous old and now empty home was by the under construction Highway 347 overpass that caused the relocation.
It likely will be viewable by high up northbound traffic when the new Highway 347 overpass is finally open.
The above two photos were shown in the “Sunset Route Two-Tracking Updates” thread in the General Discussion forum. Not shown therein but new to any thread is a photo emphasizing the concrete ties the rails underneath Silver Horizon is resting on.
Those concrete ties have slightly slanting downward ends, and are new to the new location. When Silver Horizon was at its previous location the concrete ties there were totally flat ones and didn’t have any slanting to them.
