The San Manuel Arizona Railroad was an

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

short-line railroad A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...

that operates from a connection with the

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

(CBRY) at

Hayden, Arizona Hayden is a town in Gila and Pinal counties in Arizona, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the town was 662. History Hayden was founded in 1909 and owned by the Kennecott Copper Corp. In 1912, the company built a ...

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 Ma ...

, .

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 The Wattis Brothers received funding from David Eccles, Thomas Dee, Joseph Clark and Jam ...

and The Sterns-Roger Manufacturing Company, 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 would 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 in Chandler, Arizona. This car along with two other rider cars were built by Magor Car Corporation 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