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The EP&SW quickly grew to Class 1 status, linking many of the mining districts with the smelters in Douglass, El Paso and other locations across the Gadsden Purchase with more than 1000 miles of main line. The El Paso & Southwestern continued to compete directly with the Southern Pacific until the early 1920s when the SP purchased it, bringing an end to the Arizona & South Eastern's direct lineage.
On June 25th, 1901 the Arizona and South Eastern ceased to exist as an independent railroad.
The Arizona & Southeastern was what is known as a "Common Carrier", meaning it was available for hire for public transport. To put it simply you could walk up and buy a ticket. Before this time Federal law allowed companies like Phelps-Dodge to own common carriers like the A&SE and then could ship cargo at lower rates than those charged other shippers using the railroad. On that date a new law that made this illegal came into effect.
To facilitate compliance with this new law, a new railroad, the El Paso & Southwestern, was incorporated. Up until that time there was still speculation about whether or not Phelps-Dodge would end their latest railroad, the Southwestern Railroad of Arizona, at the connection it was making with the Southern Pacific at Demming, NM, or continue building a new route to El Paso, Texas. The announcement of the new railroad's name removed all doubt as to the ultimate destination of the line.
Along with the disappearance of the Arizona & South Eastern, it's original heir apparent, the SWRRofA, became a subsidiary railroad of the El Paso & Southwestern. Within a few years the SWRRofA was gone too, absorbed into the still growing El Paso & Southwestern system.
The last vestiges of the Arizona & South Eastern Rail Road.
As mentioned in an earlier section of this discussion, the Arizona & South Eastern's first locomotive still exists and is on public display in El Paso, Texas. Much of the railroad's original route, realignments and expansions outside of Bisbee are still easily visible if one knows where to look. Some of the roadbed is today being used as neighborhood roads. In many places along the route the ballast, refinery slag still stretches for miles. Of course the ghost towns of Fairbank and Charleston can easily be visited using paved county roads, though other than roadbed & slag ballast, nothing of this interesting 19th century railroad exists to be seen and contemplated.
The history of the Arizona & South Eastern is not exactly over just yet! The San Pedro & Southwestern Railroad is a small shortline based in Benson. Though the track has been replaced several times since 1894, the SPSR operates along the last seven remaining miles of Arizona & South Eastern roadbed.
The SPSR handles switching railcars at various locations along its own line as well as contract switching within larger facilities. They also have a truck to rail transload service providing inexpensive intermodal service for small businesses that are within a 50 mile radius of Benson. The company also operates over tracks in Willcox, Arizona.
The San Pedro & Southwestern Railroad website
The San Pedro & Southwestern Railroad Wiki
While the Arizona & Southeastern never reached Tucson (or had any need to do so), it's successor, the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad did. Some evidence of this railroad still exists in Tucson, though the railroad itself disappeared in the early 1920s.
The City of Tucson has created the El Paso & Southwestern Greenway, a "6-mile long multi-use path for bicyclists and pedestrians. The pathway will extend along a corridor that was once used by the railroad, from north of downtown Tucson, through the City of South Tucson to the Kino Sports Complex."
The El Paso & Southwestern terminal in Tucson, Arizona, September, 2012 This is the track side of the building.
The El Paso & Southwestern's 10 bay roundhouse in Tucson is still exists and in use, September, 2012.
It's current occupant is an architectural salvage company. It is located about a mile south of the Terminal.
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