Copper Basin Railway


The Copper Basin Railway is an Arizona short-line railroad that operates from a connection with the Union Pacific Railroad at Magma to Winkelman, in of length. The railroad also has a branch line that runs from Ray Junction to Ray, Arizona. There was formerly an interchange with the San Manuel Arizona Railroad at Hayden. The CBRY exists primarily to serve a copper mine. L. S. “Jake” Jacobson is the President and Chief Operating Officer. In summer 2006, ASARCO Copper Corporation purchased the entire railroad.

Traffic

107,000 cars per year

Magma–Winkelman line

The Magma–Winkelman line was constructed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway subsidiary Phoenix and Eastern Railroad between 1902–1904. The Phoenix and Eastern Railroad built the railroad from Phoenix –Winkelman via Florence. It originally proposed to build to a connection with the Southern Pacific Railroad at Benson but the line was never built past Winkelman.
The railroad was leased to Santa Fe upon completion of construction on December 10, 1904, and was operated by ATSF subsidiary Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway. On March 13, 1907, the Phoenix & Eastern became an operating subsidiary of SP. On March 10, 1910, the Phoenix & Eastern was leased and became a non-operating subsidiary of SP and operated by the Arizona Eastern Railroad. The railroad was sold to the Arizona Eastern Railroad on October 31, 1945. The Arizona Eastern Railroad was merged into SP on September 30, 1955.
The track at Winkelman was extended to Christmas, Arizona, in 1911 by the Arizona Eastern Railway. That section of track was abandoned by the SP in 1961.
At some point SP sold the line to mine operator Kennecott Copper. On August 15, 1986, the line was sold by Kennecott Copper and the CBRY was started. The CBRY was owned by Rail Management Corporation from 1986–2005. In summer 2006, ASARCO Copper Corporation purchased the entire railroad. ASARCO also owns the Ray Mine and Hayden Smelter, CBRY's primary customers.
This railway served as the backdrop to Dwight Yoakam’s “A Thousand Miles from Nowhere” music video. He is seen near the tracks and moving about a train throughout the video.

Route

The route primarily follows the Gila River.