Photo by Finetooth, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Verde Canyon Railroad
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About Verde Canyon Railroad
The Verde Canyon Railroad offers a four‑hour scenic round‑trip through Arizona’s Verde Canyon, departing from Clarkdale and traveling to Perkinsville before returning. The excursion covers 20 miles (32 km) each way, winding beside the Verde River, through bridges, trestles and a 680‑foot curved tunnel. Refurbished EMD FP7 diesel units 1510 and 1512 pull open‑air viewing cars, operating year‑round with seasonal Starlight and Ales on Rails specials.
History
The branch line that the Verde Canyon Railroad now uses opened in 1912 as a north‑south link between the copper smelter at Clarkdale, the Jerome mines, and the Santa Fe Railway at Drake, and the Santa Fe owned and operated that 38‑mile (61 km) segment from 1912 until 1988. In 1988 David L. Durbano purchased the line, and two years later, in 1990, passenger service between Clarkdale (milepost 38) and Perkinsville (milepost 18) resumed under the new name Verde Canyon Railroad. The railroad’s refurbished FP7 diesel locomotives entered service with an eagle‑inspired paint scheme on March 8 1997, and the livery was refreshed again in 2019. By 2005 the line celebrated its one‑millionth passenger and was designated an “Arizona Treasure” by Governor Janet Napolitano the following month.
The Trains
The Verde Canyon Railroad runs a four‑hour, 20‑mile (32 km) round‑trip between Clarkdale and Perkinsville on the Clarkdale Arizona Central Railroad’s standard‑gauge track. Its motive power consists of two refurbished EMD FP7 diesel locomotives, numbers 1510 and 1512, which were built for the Alaska Railroad in 1953 and repainted in 1997 and again in 2019. The excursion trains pull classic open‑air viewing cars behind the FP7s, providing passengers with panoramic access to the canyon scenery.
Nearby
Out in Arizona, a ride on the Verde Canyon Railroad pairs neatly with the Arizona State Railroad Museum about 34 mi away.
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