I'll have new columns in September, barring compelling breaking news. In the meantime, enjoy the archives and use this as an open thread. The Front Page and Phoenix and Arizona will be updated daily.
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August 2018
August 09, 2018
Vacation
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August 02, 2018
Ghost railroads of Arizona
Today's railroad action in Arizona is largely confined to the Union Pacific across the southern part of the state and the BNSF "Transcon" across the north, along with branch lines from both to Phoenix. Long intermodal and merchandise freights power along with few stops, heading to California and the east. Freight yards, crew changes, roundhouses, and repair work that once bolstered railroad towns such as Ash Fork and Seligman have been eliminated or diminished. Arizona now posts some of the lowest levels of rail freight tonnage originating and being delivered in the nation.
It wasn't always that way. Railroads were essential to tapping the state's mineral wealth, especially copper, shipping produce from the Salt River Valley, and building towns that served as busy division and subdivision points.
Passenger trains ended the state's isolation, bringing new residents and tourists. Crack trains included Santa Fe's northern Arizona fleet of the Super Chief, El Capitan, Chief, San Francisco Chief, and Grand Canyon, and Southern Pacific's Sunset Limited, Golden State Limited, Californian, and Imperial among others traveling through Phoenix once the SP northern main line was completed in 1926. They delivered and picked up the mail, often sorted en route in Railway Post Office cars. Less-than-carload freight service with the Southern Pacific, Santa Fe and Railway Express Agency served scores of towns and cities, the FedEx and UPS of their day.
Railroads built Arizona.
Almost all of this is gone. But the ghosts linger. Here are a few:
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