I have been in the process of getting into this hobby and have decided to begin with The Milwaukee Road, Wisconsin and Southern, and Chicago and Northwestern as these lines are vivid in my memory growing up in Wisconsin. I, however, am a transplant to Phoenix, AZ and would like to know what lines, if any, truly represent Arizona.
Currently or historically?
Currently, UP across the south, BNSF across the north.
Historically, SP across the south, SF across the north.
Phoenix is is no-mans land, railroad wise, from what I can figure out, but more closely related to the south than the north.
To me when ever I think of Railraods in Arizona, I think of a set of Santa Fe Superfleet Diesels on the point of a hot shot piggy back train, or a Matched set of Fs on a hot Citrus Reefer extra.
James
Cheack with the people at the Thunderbirds Club. They are friendly to visitors and model the area.
[:o)]What loco says Arizona?
One that if I saw it I would yell “Holy cr*p, a talking locomotive!”
Happy Friday!
around 1895 the Prescott , Santa Fe and Phoenix Railway connected Phoenix with Ash Fork on the ATSF line across northern arizona . ATSF was the parent company and it absorbed the PSF&P RR sometime around 1903
this book http://www.amazon.com/Sante-Fe-Prescott-Phoenix-Railway/dp/0871087766/ref=cm_ciu_custimg_item_14/104-6126988-0572716 tells the story , and is the inspiration for my not-yet-started layout
Good stuff. I know that the UP serves Phoenix with a brachline, and from looking at the map on their website it looks like BNSF does, as well. There is a line that went from Yuma to Phoenix, and the south to meet the one that stays to the south, I don’t believe it is in use any longer west of Phoenix.
I don’t know if it’s still running or not, but there was a regional line named the Arizona & California that ran from Phoenix, through Parker, to Cadiz, California, where it connected with the BNSF. The Arizona & California was running on former BNSF tracks and took over the route when BNSF abandoned direct service to Phoenix.
EDIT: There are photographs of the Arizona & California at http://algomacentral.railfan.net/AZCal.htm
I think it is (at least as of a couple years ago). My son was travelling through that area and saw some A&C locos. It looks like it is on the old ATSF route to Phoenix. I didn’t realize that existed. Don’t know if anyone is using the Yuma - Phoenix route.
Phoenix was on the Santa Fe and there was a yard there back in the 60s.
I remember watching a show on the Discovery Channel talking about golf courses in the most unlikeliest of places… I don’t remember if it was the Yuma Proving Grounds, but they had a segment where some military personnel were playing on the golf course on the military base out there in the middle of the desert, which just happens to have a BNSF line run right past it. The engineers never pass up a chance to toot the horn and ruin someone’s golf shot when they see someone is on the links. [:D]
ARZC still exists, it is part of RailAmerica. There is also Arizona Eastern, San Pedro and Southwestern, and the Apache Railway.
It seems like SP has more trackage in the Phoenix area than BNSF does, so I think I would associate Phoenix with SP.
Vail & Southwestern RR
the southern line belonged to SP and ran from El Paso Texas through Tucson and Yuma Arizona and on into California . a branch was built to Phoenix . i guess UP owns it all now
other recommended reading …
http://www.signaturepress.com/sfr.html
http://www.signaturepress.com/az5.html
which are volumes 4 and 5 of David Myricks series on arizona railroads . volumes 1 2 and 3 can be found sometimes on ebay or other sellers of used books
Then there was the El Paso and Southwestern, built by Phelps-Dodge Mining. It connected Tucson with Bisbee, Douglass, Deming, and El Paso, if I am reading correctly. They built of prtty large station in Tucson. When SP bouth them in 1924, the station was closed. Now it is a restaraunt. There are some pic of both the SP and E&SW stations here:
http://www.azrail.org/archive/station/az/tucson/index.htm
Tucson, at least, does not have an Amshak. The SP depot is newly refurbished. I have not been there since that was done, I think I should go have a look one of these days.
The SP line to Phoenix used to be a secondary main line. It was called the Phoenix Line and connected with the Gila Line at Wellton and Picacho. You may remember the Amtrak train that was intentionally derailed back in 1995, it was on the Phoenix Line at Hyder, AZ. Part of the line west of Phoenix is currently out of service.
http://www.azcentral.com/specials/special21/articles/1009sabotage09.html http://www.emergency.com/azdrail.htm
It is called Mobest Yard and BNSF most likely still uses it.
Most of the BNSF presence in Phoenix will be to the North and West of Mobest Yard along Grand Avenue.
If the golf course was at the Yuma Proving Grounds, it would be the Union Pacific Sunset Route and not BNSF.
The San Pedro & Southwestern, which ran from Benson, Arizona to a lime plant at Paul Spur near Bisbee, has been out of business for several years. The current owners wanted to reconnect with the Mexican rail network at Naco, but met with such opposition that they have now applied for abandonment. There are on-going negotiations with the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and other agencies to take the rail up and turn the right-of-way into a hiking and bicycle trail.
The last I heard, they had a former San Joaquin Valley Railroad locomotive (1754). Do you know if this is still there?
What lines or as the title says what locos? To me the EMD FT unit says Arizona. Santa Fe had problems keeping their super steam in water way out there in the desert. The Diesels blasted right past all those water stops. Ironically the FTs used in this area went bad before their time because the water they used for cooling was corrosive to the interior of the prime mover blocks.
ericsp,
The last time I went through Benson a few weeks ago, the locomotive was being used by the Apache Nitrogen Products plant. Kyle Railways owned the SP&SW when it was running a tourist operation between Benson and Fairbank. After that operation ceased, the line eventually wound up in the hands of a consortium out of Phoenix. One of the owners lives in Bisbee and has been pushing the idea of a connection to Mexico, but environmental groups and residents of Naco have been protesting about the possibility of toxic materials being shipped over the line, so it’s beginning to look like the line will just be torn up. Kyle may have sold the locomotive to Apache Nitrogen because they needed a switcher.