The San Manuel Arizona Railroad is an

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

short-line railroad :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...

that operates from a connection with the

Copper Basin Railway The Copper Basin Railway is an Arizona short-line railroad that operates from a connection with the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) at Magma to Winkelman, in of length. The railroad also has a branch line that runs from Ray Junction to Ray, Arizo ...

(CBRY) at Hayden, Arizona to

San Manuel, Arizona San Manuel is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pinal County, Arizona, United States. The population was 3,551 at the 2010 census. San Manuel was built in 1953 by Del E. Webb Construction Company as a company town to serve the then-new San Man ...

, .

History

San Manuel Arizona Railroad was constructed by a joint venture consisting of

Utah Construction Company The Utah Construction Company was a construction company founded by Edmund Orson Wattis Jr., Warren L. Wattis and William. H. Wattis in 1900. History A short four years after its founding, the company was awarded the contract to build the Feat ...

and

The Sterns-Roger Manufacturing Company ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

, which had a contract with San Manuel Copper Corporation for the construction of the railroad. The company was incorporated September 29, 1953, and the railroad began operations in 1955. The copper mine at San Manuel was permanently closed in October 2003. The SMA ceased operations in 1999. In July 2012, work was started to re-open the operation onstruction of a new locomotive inspection and servicing shop & Administrative Officesand upgrade of 29+ miles of mainline track between San Manuel & Hayden (Arizona). In April 2013, it was announced the railroad will be purchased by Capstone Mining Corp. as part of the Pinto Valley mine operation acquisition from BHP Billiton in 2013. Capstone idled the railroad in 2016.

Donated equipment

In 2017, SMARRCO donated rider car #184 to the

Arizona Railway Museum The Arizona Railway Museum is a railroad museum located in Chandler, Arizona. It was founded and incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1983. It is dedicated to the railroads of Arizona and the Southwestern United States. It has an exten ...

in Chandler, Arizona. This car along with two other rider cars were built by

Magor Car Corporation Throughout railroad history, many manufacturing companies have come and gone. This is a list of companies that manufactured railroad cars and other rolling stock. Most of these companies built both passenger and freight equipment and no distinctio ...

in 1955 for SMARRCO. During operation, the conductor would ride in the car to operate the horn at grade crossings when the car was in the lead on the empty shove to the mine.

References

{{Arizona railroads 1953 establishments in Arizona 1999 disestablishments in Arizona Defunct Arizona railroads Railway companies disestablished in 1999 Railway companies established in 1953 Transportation in Pinal County, Arizona American companies established in 1953