On a very pleasant autumn afternoon, the Arizona Eastern's Lordsburg to Globe train pauses at Solomon siding to change crews and switch out some tank cars before continuing westward.

Amongst the lush cotton fields of the Gila Valley, a westbound Arizona Eastern train stops road traffic briefly, as it pauses to switch out several tank cars at Solomon Siding.

Their interchange with Freeport McMoran complete, a pair of Arizona Eastern DASH-8s head away from Clifton yard with a loaded train for South Siding, a few miles out of town.

An Arizona Eastern road train led by five DASH-8s dodges a cloudburst and makes its way westwards on Union Pacific metals across the semi-flooded lake bed between Lordsburg and Steins.

Arizona Eastern B40-8 #4006 crawls out of Tunnel #4 carefully bringing its heavy train down the steep grade into Clifton.

The inbound train from Lordsburg struggles up the 2.5% at MP 1206.

Sunset is near at MP1210 as the sun peeks through the gap between the trestle and the locomotive with a epic sunstar.

Arizona Eastern B40-8 #4009 climbs up out of Clifton with a train of heavy copper concentrate. Despite the relatively short length of this train, the two units (totaling 8000HP) are down to a craw... (more)

Arizona Eastern B40-8 #4009 exits Tunnel #1 with the first train of the morning, bound for the top of the hill at South Siding.

Arizona Eastern B40-8 #4002 rolls past the stunning red rock cliffs of Rattlesnake Canyon with a train for Lordsburg.

Arizona Eastern #4009 rolls across the San Francisco River Bridge in downtown Clifton, AZ.

Arizona Eastern #4009 exits Tunnel #1 with an upgrade train leaving Clifton.

Arizona Eastern B40-8 #4005 carefully descends the 2.5% grade downhill into Clifton, AZ with inbound cars for the Morenci Mine.

Arizona Eastern B40-8s #4009 and #4002 crawl uphill out of Clifton with outbound cars from the massive Morenci smelter, which can be seen in the far background.

Arizona Eastern B-boat #4002 leads the downhill Clifton Switcher through the narrow cut at MP1210. The width of this cut illustrates the narrow gauge heritage of the line.