Morenci Southern Railroad

Morenci Southern Railroad
Loop No. 1
Route, 1902
Route length:	30 km
Gauge :	914 mm ( English 3-foot track )
Legend 0 Copper ore mines near Morenci Roundabout loop No. 1 Roundabout loop No. 2 Roundabout loop no.3 Roundabout loop No. 4 Roundabout loop No. 5 Gila River San Francisco River 61 Guthrie Railway Station Arizona and New Mexico Railroad

The Morenci Southern Railroad was a 30 kilometer (18.4 mile) long, narrow-gauge railway operated from 1901 to 1922 by the Detroit Copper Mining Company of Arizona near Morenci , Arizona .

location

The railway with a track width of 3 feet (914 mm) ran between the copper mines of the Detroit Copper Company at Morenci and the train of normalspurigen Arizona and New Mexico Railroad in Guthrie at the Gila River .

The route negotiates an elevation gain of 425 meters (1,400 feet) using five roundabout loops . The railroad had therefore been nicknamed "The Corkscrew Railroad of America" ​​(The Corkscrew Railroad of America). Some of the trestle bridges were declared 1914 as the danger of collapse, after which the height difference through switchbacks was overcome.

business

At its peak, the railway carried out two round trips a day in mixed passenger and freight traffic. A one-way trip took about two hours. Because of the steep incline, the length of the trains was usually limited to just three cars and one caboose .

Web links

Commons : Morenci Southern Railroad  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Ernie Parks: Bridges, Tunnels And A Surviving Loop Of The Old Morenci Southern Railroad In Eastern Arizona. In: AZ Backcountry Adventures. (English). 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Morenci Southern Railroad. In: Greenly County History. Greenlee County Government . 

Coordinates: 33 ° 0 ′ 43 "  N , 109 ° 18 ′ 48.8"  W.