Verde Canyon Railroad

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The Verde Canyon Railroad is a heritage railway near Clarkdale, Arizona, southwest of Sedona, Arizona.

Opened in 1912 as the Verde Valley Railway, it was built to support the copper mines at Jerome, Arizona. The Santa Fe Railway operated and owned the 38-mile branchline from 1912-1989, providing coal to the Phoenix Cement Company, and shipping copper and cement outbound.

New owners, the Durbano Family, took over with the Arizona Central Railroad/Verde Canyon Railroad by 1989-1990. Passenger service resumed in November 1990.

Current excursions are a 4-hour trip, 40-mile roundtrip from Clarkdale to the ghost ranch of Perkinsville and back. Scenes from How the West Was Won were filmed at Perkinsville in 1961. 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 tunnel and many bridges.

In 1996 the Verde Canyon Railroad was carrying 60,000 passengers annually.

In March of 2005 the Verde Canyon Railroad celebrated its 1 Millionth passenger, and the following month was named an "Arizona Treasure" by State Governor Janet Napolitano.