Roll to Arlington

Link: http://a-r.us/t34

• Quick Info:
• States: Arizona   
• Railroads: SP, UP   

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Point of Interest

Note: This line is not formally abandoned, and may still see infrequent use.

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Site of Arlington Station, with a passing siding and short spur track (not shown). View is looking east. Photo by Mike Palmer, February 2009.

This abandoned railway was originally built sometime post 1895, after the Sunset route was completed across southern Arizona. From the west, this line left the Sunset route at Wellton, AZ, and headed roughly east-northeast to reach Phoenix. This line was used by Amtrak's Sunset Limited until the mid-1990s; the track itself was never upgraded beyond jointed rail.

The middle part of the line, between Roll and Arlington, was closed some time around the UP-SP merger in 1996. The route passes through some rugged, remote territory that would require a 4WD or other off-road vehicle to explore.

The tracks on either side of this abandonment are still in use. The east end still sees some local service near Phoenix; freight customers include local ranches. This portion of active trackage extends past Arlington, where a branch to the Palo Verde nuclear power plant connects. The western segment of the line serves local ranches in the area, and is also used for car storage.

Thanks to Mike Palmer for contributing information about this route.

This is the old Wellton Sub,later the Phoenix Sub. It was built in 1926 to complete a through main line to Phoenix. Use of the line was discontinued in 1996, not long after the infamous derailment of ATK's Sunset Limited by saboteurs. Also, this area was part of Gen. Patton's WW2 Desert Training Center, which had tens of thousands of GI's training in the desert. There is a pyramid close by the tracks at Horn AZ, a monument to some soldiers killed in a training accident in 1943.

This area is very remote, only accessible by 4WD vehicles. No radio or cell phone reception. Take plenty of water and let people know where you're going. It is so dry in this desert, in one place there is a pile of blasting powder cans used to blast away rock for the grade--sitting undisturbed for over 80 years.

Stan Jefferson
Avondale, AZ
3/7/2011

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'Tis clear from Mike Palmer's May 2010 photos that a derail device is in place just beyond (east of) the 4th Avenue grade Xing in Roll, AZ, such that no eastbound rail traffic is possible beyond Roll. Yet this figure caption for Tyson, AZ, farther east, declares, "The 44-1/2 Avenue grade crossing in Tyson. The flangeways were not blocked, so it is possible some type of rail traffic still passes through here." That possibility seems most unlikely, given that rail traffic would have to originate to the west at Wellton, and is blocked at Roll (with westbound traffic not extending beyond Palo Verde, just west of Arlington). Eastbound traffic having been blocked at Roll, would one expect to see other such--i.e., redundant--devices on the line not too much farther east?

Nelson Lawry
Rollinsford, NH
5/29/2011

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This document, which seems conceptual in nature might be of interest. It's MAG opinion on this line.

http://www.phoenix.gov/congress/regionalwellton.pdf

Mark E.
Tempe, AZ
2/22/2012

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