reporting mark azcr locale central arizona dates of operation 1989 present predecessor atchison topeka and santa fe railway track gauge 4 ft 8 1 2 in 1 435 mm standard gauge headquarters clarkdale arizona website www.thewesterngroup.net the clarkdale arizona central railroad reporting mark azcr is an arizona short line railroad that operates from a connection with the bnsf railway at drake arizona . the azcr runs 37.8 miles 60.8 km from drake to clarkdale arizona . an excursion train also runs on the line through verde canyon and is operated by the same owners under the verde canyon railroad . the azcr is owned by david l. durbano the western group . contents 1 traffic 2 history 2.1 verde valley railway 3 motive power 4 route 5 references 6 external links traffic edit the azcr handles 1 500 cars per year of inbound coal to the phoenix cement company and shipping outbound cement . 1 the verde canyon railroad carries 100 000 passengers per year 2013 figure . history edit verde valley railway edit from 1913 to 1989 the line was operated by the atchison topeka and santa fe railway santa fe railway . on november 17 1911 the verde valley railway was chartered as a non operating subsidiary of the santa fe railway . construction from cedar glade west of drake to clarkdale was immediately commenced on february 13 1912 and was completed on february 1 1913 at a total cost of 1 286 061 . citation needed it was built to support the copper mines at jerome arizona . on december 31 1942 the verde valley was conveyed to the santa fe railway by deed . on april 14 1989 the santa fe railway sold the clarkdale branch to david l. durbano s the western group . the new railroads were named the clarkdale arizona central railroad for freight and the verde canyon railroad for passenger service . passenger service resumed in november 1990 . motive power edit the azcr has four locomotives that were all built in the 1950s . the railroad has one emd gp7 azcr 2164 one emd gp9 azcr 3413 and a pair of emd fp7s 1510 and 1512 used to power the excursion route edit the route is nestled between two national forests and adjacent to a designated wilderness area follows the verde river the entire way and features a 680 foot 210 m long tunnel and many bridges . drake bnsf mack bear perkinsville a ghost town sycamore clarkdale references edit wikimedia commons has media related to clarkdale arizona central railroad . clarkdale arizona central railroad robertson donald b. 1986 . encyclopedia of western railroad history the desert states arizona nevada new mexico utah . caldwell idaho the caxton printers . p. 112 . isbn 0 87004 305 6 . lewis edward a. 1996 . american shortline railway guide 5th ed . . waukesha wisconsin kalmbach publishing . p. 28 . isbn 0 89024 290 9 . walker mike 1995 . steam powered video s comprehensive railroad atlas of north america arizona & new mexico . kent united kingdom steam powered publishing . pp. 9 15 . isbn 1 874745 04 8 . external links edit railways portal verde canyon railroad official website v t e common carrier railroads of arizona current apa arzc azcr azer bm & lp bnsf cbry spsr up retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title arizona central railroad & oldid 707507385 categories arizona railroadsspin offs of the atchison topeka and santa fe railwaycompanies based in arizonarailway companies established in 1989companies operating former atchison topeka and santa fe railway lineshidden categories articles that mention track gauge 1435 mmall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from september 2008commons category with local link different than on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages deutsch edit links this page was last modified on 29 february 2016 at 07 16 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view