Western Railroad Discussion > San Pedro & Southwestern

Here are a few shots of the San Pedro and Southwestern in Benson AZ. This was the former EP&SW mainline to El Paso.
1. Ready to leave southbound
2. funky power.
3.HQ

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A sad site on the wye. What were these cars prior to CW?

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1. Nice paint
2. Former mainline looking south. It's hard to imagine SP's top name trains like the Golden State once blazed along here.

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Great stuff!!

How far south do they go? Any plans to built the connection to Naco, AZ?

Do they still run to Douglas, AZ?

SBC_1344 Wrote:
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> Great stuff!!
>
> How far south do they go? Any plans to built the
> connection to Naco, AZ?
>
> Do they still run to Douglas, AZ?

The car looks like an ex-SP Daylight articulated. Very sad to see it in such state.

When are they going to run excursions again?

What's all that crap on the hood of the #25?

Jack

ex SP artics for sure

I think they may have come from the Cal western when Kyle was involved

Doubledumb Wrote:
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> What's all that crap on the hood of the #25?
>
> Jack

I recall these are dust filters. This looks like one of the Arizona Eastern units, ex-MOP, that used to work the Inspiration smelter and mine near Globe.

I rode the Golden State through here back in the early 50's. The ride was smooth as silk..(all the way from Chicago to Phoenix and back for that matter). Seems like we made a few stops at places like Douglas, Bisbee, and a stop that was for Ft. Huachuca . not sure of the name of that place. The area seemed rather desolate to say the least..it was night time...no lights between the cities.

Correct. 1736 is an ex CSX GP16, rebuilt by Seaboard Coast Line's Uceta Shop in Tampa, FL from an old SCL GP7.

Mike Derrick
http://www.shortlinesusa.com

masterphots Wrote:
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This looks like one of the Arizona Eastern units, ex-MOP, that
> used to work the Inspiration smelter and mine near
> Globe.

SBC_1344 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great stuff!!
>
> How far south do they go? Any plans to built the
> connection to Naco, AZ?
>
> Do they still run to Douglas, AZ?

I think the line stops at Curtiss, about 8 miles from Benson. Street Views on Goggle seem to indicate nothing but ballast where the ROW goes under state hiways 82 and 90 some 10 and maybe 25 miles repectively south of Curtiss.

Mexrail

That is correct, The line has been cut back to Curtis. They tried to open an interchange at Naco w/o any luck and soon scraped that half of the line.

Several years ago we enjoyed an excursion on this line
sponsored by PRS. A round trip from Benson to Charleston.
This at one time was a main line to El Paso via Douglas.

As did LX15840, I also rode the first-class Golden State Limited. It was 1940 and we detrained at Fairbank. This was a busy railroad spot, watering engines and sending trains to the Fort, Patagonia, and even the short branch to Tombstone. Relatives of mine ran the general store and P.O. there ever since 1906.

In time the town ran into hard times and was finally deserted. The BLM own it now along with the San Pedro River and call it an official ghost town. A ride on that excursion train in 1996 to Charleston was really great. On the return trip a stop was made at Fairbank, where a nice boarding platform had been erected, and the passengers could partake of a barbeque meal, with a live band playing, and stroll around what was the main street. That Daylight articulated coach rode just fine. It was interesting to see, taped up on one of its partitions, a copy of one of my old family photos of Fairbank.

The rails through there were pulled up a few years ago, so no more trains. The BLM is trying to save what is left of the old adobe store building. The one-room schoolhouse is restored very nicely and is open to visitors.

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That cartoon on the side of the coach in photo 5 looks like the emblem from the Skunk Train.