This video shows short line railroad operations in Arizona, with the action taking place in the early 1990s.  Several different shortlines are visited and we begin with the Copper Basin Railway which runs 54 miles from Magma Junction, where it interchanges with the old SP line, to Hayden and serves the huge open pit Ray copper mine.  This territory is southeast of Phoenix.

We are treated to some panoramic views of the Arizona desert and the enormous open pit Ray mine as we watch the railroad action.  We see some switching action involving rare locomotive types.  Two of the locomotives we see in action are four-axle GP-39s of which only 23 were ever built.  We then see three six-axle SD-39’s of which only 54 were ever built.  The GP-39s bring the ore cars up from the mine to Ray Junction and then power is switched to the SD-39s for the trip to the smelter in Hayden.  While still on the Copper Basin Railway we are shown some beautiful desert flowers, the iconic saguaro cactus that we all associate with the Arizona desert, an up close and personal look at a four and a half foot long diamondback rattlesnake, and yet another symbol of the Arizona desert, a  road runner.

Next up is the San Manuel Arizona Railroad which connects with the Copper Basin Railway at Hayden and runs south for 30 miles to San Manuel.  It is owned by the Magma Copper Company and serves their mine at Hayden.  We see two GP 38-2’s in action on this railroad.  A little later we see a pair of Alco RS 3’s belch their signature billows of black smoke as they begin to move.  We see the loading operation at the Magma copper mine, which is both an open pit and an underground mine.  Large buckets of ore are elevated from the mine by a huge hoist and the ore is dumped into a silo for loading onto the ore cars.

The Magma Arizona is owned by the same copper company that owns the San Manuel Arizona Railroad.  The Magma has on its roster three Baldwin locomotives, an S 8, an S 12, and a six axle DRS 66-1500 that had not been used in years when this video was shot.  This railroad operates on 28 miles of track from Magma Junction, where it interchanged with the SP, to Superior.

Next up is the Arizona Eastern which runs 134 miles NW from its connection with the SP at Bowie, AZ, to Miami, AZ, where is serves a smelter owned by Cypress Corporation.  We watch a train pulled by three GP 20s run down one of the main streets of Globe, AZ.

We visit the Arizona & California next, which is actually a regional railroad rather than a short line, and then we see the final railroad, the Apache.  The Apache rosters all Alco locomotives.

I give this video a good solid “B.”  It was worth the purchase price but it would have been so much more impressive if it had been shot in wide screen.