Framed Up In Kearny
I remember being pretty dismayed when the spectacular evening light was muted by a cloud just before train time. I always thought maybe I'd get another chance someday. But with the Copper Basin Railway ore trains no longer running (perhaps forever) I may never get another shot, so the time is good to share this one attempt.
The afternoon ore train is headed east from Hayden with empties destined for Ray Mine. They are passing the green fields of the modest nine hole Kearny Golf Club framed up by a eucalyptus tree here near about MP 993.5 on the Copper Basin's ex Southern Pacific Hayden Branch. A pair of ex Kennecott Copper pit motor GP39-2s bracket an ex Louisville and Nashville GP40 approaching the sole grade crossing in town at Tilbury Drive.
Kearny is a town of about 2000 people and a tidy place that is the only real community of consequence along the Copper Basin's route. Kearny was built by the Kennecott Mining Company in 1958 as a planned community to accommodate the populations of nearby Ray, Sonora and Barcelona, which were about to be swallowed by Kennecott's expanding open-pit copper mine. While many of houses in the town were newly built, some mine employees had their homes moved down the road to Kearny which was officially incorporated in 1959.
Oh, and one little aside. The three of us spent the night at the General Kearny Inn, a decidedly untouristy humble old school motor inn. But I shall never forget the little lounge and bar that to this day remains the only place I've had 50 cent draft beers. Sure it was flat and they were trying to get rid of the keg but the price was right and I'm not sure how many we drank to help them with their problem. Good memories...what few there are!
Kearny, Arizona
Saturday October 17, 2015
Framed Up In Kearny
I remember being pretty dismayed when the spectacular evening light was muted by a cloud just before train time. I always thought maybe I'd get another chance someday. But with the Copper Basin Railway ore trains no longer running (perhaps forever) I may never get another shot, so the time is good to share this one attempt.
The afternoon ore train is headed east from Hayden with empties destined for Ray Mine. They are passing the green fields of the modest nine hole Kearny Golf Club framed up by a eucalyptus tree here near about MP 993.5 on the Copper Basin's ex Southern Pacific Hayden Branch. A pair of ex Kennecott Copper pit motor GP39-2s bracket an ex Louisville and Nashville GP40 approaching the sole grade crossing in town at Tilbury Drive.
Kearny is a town of about 2000 people and a tidy place that is the only real community of consequence along the Copper Basin's route. Kearny was built by the Kennecott Mining Company in 1958 as a planned community to accommodate the populations of nearby Ray, Sonora and Barcelona, which were about to be swallowed by Kennecott's expanding open-pit copper mine. While many of houses in the town were newly built, some mine employees had their homes moved down the road to Kearny which was officially incorporated in 1959.
Oh, and one little aside. The three of us spent the night at the General Kearny Inn, a decidedly untouristy humble old school motor inn. But I shall never forget the little lounge and bar that to this day remains the only place I've had 50 cent draft beers. Sure it was flat and they were trying to get rid of the keg but the price was right and I'm not sure how many we drank to help them with their problem. Good memories...what few there are!
Kearny, Arizona
Saturday October 17, 2015