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The Southern Arizona Transportation Museum

The Southern Arizona Transportation Museum is a relatively new railroad museum having just recently been started in 1998 by the City of Tucson. The museum is located in the former Southern Pacific’s beautiful two-story station in Tucson and its main focus, as you might guess, is centered on the history of Arizona’s railroads. Although their current collection of railroading equipment is somewhat small they do feature former Southern Pacific 2-6-0 #1673 that is cosmetically restored into its original livery. Aside from the museum's railroad equipment they also feature a number of historic railroad artifacts and even have a model railroad layout on hand.

Arizona railroading is known for flat deserts, high mountains, and trains that range from speeding loads of intermodal to slow drags of coal, copper, agriculture, and wood products. Today, the state may be home to less than 2,000 route miles of railroad but it offers a little of everything from main line railroading to railroad museums and tourist lines.

Arizona has been one of the few states to never lose its original number of Class I railroads, two (although the names have changed). Prior to the mid 1990s Arizona railroading was home to its original Class I carriers, Southern Pacific and the venerable Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe both of whom had their main lines running east-west across the state.

After 1995 that all changed when the Santa Fe merged with Burlington Northern becoming the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (today simply known as the BNSF Railway) and Southern Pacific was purchased by Union Pacific in 1996. Today, Arizona is still home to both original owners’ main lines with Union Pacific’s former SP Sunset Route a major corridor between California and Texas and BNSF Railway’s Transcon between California and Chicago (this route is also the state’s busiest).

In terms of overall mileage, currently Arizona ranks somewhat low at less the 2,000 route miles; however, as has happened with most states, at one time it was home to much, much more.

Much like the Pennsylvania Railroad was to the State of Pennsylvania so was the Southern Pacific to the State of California, an institutional icon. Also just like the Pennsy the Southern Pacific (also referred to affectionately as the “Espee” by railfans and historians after its SP reporting marks) has such a history that entire libraries of books could be written on the differing aspects of the railroad. The SP was by far our country’s single largest classic railroad (i.e., before the modern-day merger movement began in the 1950s), spanning over 15,000 miles and reaching from the stretches of northwest Oregon to southeast Louisiana! It's main line between the south and West Coast passed directly through southern Arizona.

For more information about visiting the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum please visit their website by clicking on the link at the top of the page.

Per the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum's request I was asked to mention the below book, Tucson Was a Railroad Town: The Days of Steam in the Big Burg on the Main Line from Bill Kalt, a member of the museum. The book highlights Tuscon and how the railroad came to shape, grow, and develop the city from its earliest beginnings to its present-day appearance. While the book is a bit pricey your purchase goes toward helping the museum so if you have any interest in the Tucson area's railroading past I would highly recommend Mr. Kalt's book.

Also, for more information and reading about excursion trains and railroad museums you might want to consider picking up Tourist Trains Guidebook from the editors of Kalmbach Publishing's Trains magazine. The book lists and reviews over 400 excursions and museums found throughout the country and is an excellent resource, which has received superb reviews by readers, if you're looking for one to visit. In any event, if you're interested in perhaps purchasing either (or both) of these books please visit the links below which will take you to ordering information through Amazon.com, the trusted online shopping network.

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