"The Copper Queen Route"

The Arizona & South Eastern Railroad was a small short line constructed in 1888 and opened in early 1889 by the powerful Copper Queen mining interests in Bisbee, Arizona. A feisty little road with heavy-weight financial backing, it first stood up to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe and then later the Southern Pacific! Both fights were over rates, and the owners would rather build parallel routes instead of giving in!

The Arizona & South Eastern eventually grew to become the parent of the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad just 12 years after its birth!

This website has been written to provide an online history of the A&SE. I was looking for an answer to a different question when I was reacquainted with the A&SE in the pages of David F. Myrick's Railroads of Arizona: Volume 1. I found that I was fascinated by this small road and its relationship with the town of Bisbee and its owner, the Phelps-Dodge Mining Corporation.

While there is a lot of material available about the history of Bisbee and the mining operations in various books and online, most of the information about the Arizona & South Eastern is not readily available.

The contents of this website grew from my own personal research about this railroad and a desire to know more about what it would have been like to witness it with an eye more like that of a modern railfan. After I had accumulated a large body of information, I decided that sharing this research publicly here was probably the best way provide the information to others interested only in the railroad itself, or are interested in the wider history of the region.

Richard Kowalski

Tucson, Az

If it has been a while since your last visit, or even just a day, please take a look at the "What's New?" page to see the latest site updates.

For a detailed history of Bisbee and the mining operations there,

try Bisbee: Queen of the Copper Camps

If a detailed history of the Phelps Dodge Corporation is more to your interest,

Vision and Enterprise: Exploring the History of Phelps Dodge Corporation is probably what you are looking for.

Additional and original sources about the railroad were found online and are usually linked as citations.

The majority of the information found in these pages are for the most part taken from these references and visiting the locations directly. At this time my research is still underway. I will be updating this site as time allows. I am always happy to hear from others interested in the Arizona & South Eastern. Please email me at damoclid at yahoo.com.