The Arizona Eastern Railway is a

Class III railroad In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$5 ...

that operates of railroad between

Clifton, Arizona Clifton is a town in and is the county seat of Greenlee County, Arizona, United States, along the San Francisco River. The population of the town was 3,311 at the 2010 census, with a 2018 population estimate of 3,700. It was a place of the Ariz ...

, and

Miami, Arizona Miami (Western Apache: Goshtłʼish Tú) is a town in Gila County, Arizona, United States. Miami is a classic Western copper boom-town. Miami's old downtown has been partly renovated, and the Bullion Plaza Museum features the cultural, minin ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. This includes

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may con ...

over the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

between

Lordsburg, New Mexico Lordsburg is a city in and the county seat of Hidalgo County, New Mexico, United States. Hidalgo County includes the southern "bootheel" of New Mexico, along the Arizona border. The population was 2,797 at the 2010 census, down from 3,379 in 20 ...

, and

Bowie, Arizona Bowie is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 U.S. Census the population of Bowie was 449. History The Southern Pacific built a rail line through eastern Arizona in ...

. The railroad serves the copper mining region of southeastern Arizona, and the agricultural

Gila River Valley The Gila River Valley is a multi-sectioned valley of the Gila River, located primarily in Arizona. The Gila River forms in western New Mexico and flows west across southeastern, south-central, and southwestern Arizona; it changes directions as i ...

. Primary commodities are sulfuric acid, copper concentrate, copper anode and cathode, and copper rod and other copper processing materials. AZER also handles minerals, chemicals, building supplies and lumber. The railroad offers a

transload Transloading, also known as cross-docking, is the process of transferring a shipment from one mode of transportation to another. It is most commonly employed when one mode cannot be used for the entire trip, such as when goods must be shipped in ...

location for lumber, building materials and other consumer commodities at

Globe, Arizona Globe ( apw, Bésh Baa Gowąh "Place of Metal") is a city in Gila County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 7,249. The city is the county seat of Gila County. Globe was founded c. 1875 as a mining cam ...

History

What is now the Arizona Eastern Railway was chartered as the

Gila Valley, Globe and Northern Railway The Gila Valley (Graham County), Gila Valley, Globe and Northern Railway was a common carrier incorporation (business), incorporated on January 24, 1894. The railway built from a connection with the Southern Pacific Railroad at Bowie, Arizona (k ...

(GVGN) on January 5, 1885. Before completion to Globe in 1899, the GVGN came under the control of the Arizona Eastern Railroad (AE). The Arizona Eastern was leased by the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

(SP) in 1905 and merged into the SP system in 1924. SP sold the Bowie – Miami line to

Kyle Railroad The Kyle Railroad is a regional railroad line that runs from North Central Kansas into Eastern Colorado. It is based in Phillipsburg, Kansas and runs on track, mostly the former Rock Island Railroad Chicago to Denver main line. The Kyle was ow ...

in 1988. Kyle was purchased by shortline holding company StatesRail in 1995, which was eventually purchased by

RailAmerica RailAmerica, Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida, was a holding company of a number of short-line railroads and regional railroads in the United States and Canada. In 2007, RailAmerica was acquired by Fortress Investment Group. Before that, it t ...

in 2001. RailAmerica sold the railroad to

Permian Basin Railways The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...

, a subsidiary of

Iowa Pacific Holdings Iowa Pacific Holdings was a holding company that owned railroad properties across North America and the United Kingdom, as well as providing services such as railcar repairs, leasing, management and consulting services to other operators. The comp ...

, in December, 2004. Of historical note, the Gila Valley Globe & Northern Railroad's first locomotive, apparently GVGN #1, was purchased from the

Central Pacific Railroad The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by Pacific Railroad Acts, U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete the western part of the "First transcontinental railroad" in N ...

, originally #1195 (''

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

)''. The locomotive was the Central Pacific locomotive that met with Union Pacific No. 119 at

Promontory Summit Promontory is an area of high ground in Box Elder County, Utah, United States, 32 mi (51 km) west of Brigham City and 66 mi (106 km) northwest of Salt Lake City. Rising to an elevation of 4,902 feet (1,494 m) above sea ...

on May 10, 1869, for the driving of the golden spike, commemorating the completion of the

First transcontinental railroad North America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the " Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail netwo ...

. Despite its historical significance, in 1909 the GVGN, by then controlled by Central Pacific successor Southern Pacific, sold No. 1 for $1000 as scrap. In 2006, Arizona Eastern announced the construction of a new spur from Safford to the new Safford Mine of

Freeport-McMoRan Freeport-McMoRan Inc., often called Freeport, is an American mining company based in the Freeport-McMoRan Center, in Phoenix, Arizona. The company is the world's largest producer of molybdenum, is a major copper producer and operates the world's ...

Corporation, north of Safford. The mine opened in 2008. In 2008, AZER purchased the Clifton Subdivision from Union Pacific. The Clifton subdivision serves the

Morenci Mine The Morenci Mine is a large copper mine located near Morenci, Arizona, United States. Morenci represents one of the largest copper reserves in the United States and in the world, having estimated reserves of of ore grading 0.16% copper. It is loc ...

near

, and interchanges with UP at

. In December 2008, weekend excursion service under the name Copper Spike began operating from Globe to the

Apache Gold Hotel Casino The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...

near San Carlos. Trains operated four daily round-trips through the winter and spring, on Thursdays through Sundays. The Copper Spike excursion train did not resume operation for a 2011–2012 season due to the transfer in ownership. On 2 August 2011, Genesee & Wyoming Inc. announced that it planned to purchase the Arizona Eastern from Iowa Pacific for

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

90.1 million, with the deal expected to be completed by the end of the year. The deal was closed on 1 September 2011.

Current operation

Cities served

* Clifton, AZ * Guthrie, AZ * Duncan, AZ * Lordsburg, NM * Bowie, AZ * Solomon, AZ * Safford, AZ :''freight dock'' * Pima, AZ * San Carlos, AZ * Globe, AZ * Claypool, AZ :''freight dock''

Rolling stock

The following are locomotives operated by the Arizona Eastern: AZER 6070 E-8 locomotive

* EMD SD90MAC43 *

EMD GP7 The EMD GP7 is a four-axle ( B-B) diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel between October 1949 and May 1954.Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973) pp. 53 Power was provided by an EMD 567B 1 ...

EMD GP9 The EMD GP9 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between 1954 and 1959. The GP9 succeeded the GP7 as the second model of EMD's General Purpose (GP) line, incorporating a new sixteen-cylind ...

EMD GP20 An EMD GP20 is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between November 1959 and April 1962. Power was provided by an EMD 567D2 16-cylinder turbocharged engine which generated . EMD was initially hesi ...

EMD GP35 The EMD GP35 is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between July 1963 and December 1965 and by General Motors Diesel between May 1964 and January 1966. 1251 examples were built for American railroa ...

EMD SD40-2 The EMD SD40-2 is a C-C diesel-electric locomotive built by EMD from 1972 to 1989. The SD40-2 was introduced in January 1972 as part of EMD's '' Dash 2'' series, competing against the GE U30C and the ALCO Century 630. Although higher-horsepowe ...

EMD SD90MAC The EMD SD90MAC is a model of C-C diesel-electric locomotive produced by General Motors Electro-Motive Division. It is, with the SD80MAC, one of the largest single-engined locomotives produced by EMD, surpassed only by the dual-engined DDA4 ...

EMD SW9 The EMD SW9 is a model of diesel switcher locomotives built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between November 1950 and December 1953. Additional SW9s were built by General Motors Diesel in Ontario Canada from December 1950 to March 195 ...

EMD SW1200 An EMD SW1200 is a 4 axle diesel switcher locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1954 and May 1966. Power is provided by an EMD 567C 12-cylinder engine which generates . Additional SW1200 production was complet ...

GE B40-8 The GE Dash 8-40B (or ''B40-8'') is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by GE Transportation Systems between 1988 and 1989. It is part of the GE Dash 8 Series of freight locomotives. A total of 151 examples of this locomotive were built for ...

* GE B39-8E * EMD E8A Arizona Eastern previously operated AZER #6070, an EMD E8 locomotive. Built for the

Chicago and North Western Railroad The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states befor ...

as CNW #5029B in June 1953, it pulled passenger trains for its railroad including

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

commuter train service. It was repainted in a scheme reminiscent of Southern Pacific's "Black Widow" livery, since Arizona Eastern was owned by Southern Pacific. As of August 2011, the locomotive was transferred to the Saratoga and North Creek Railroad.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arizona Eastern Railway Spin-offs of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company Southern Pacific Railroad subsidiaries Arizona railroads New Mexico railroads Switching and terminal railroads RailAmerica 1988 establishments in Arizona