By Alexander D. Mitchell IV

As plans proceed for the eventual construction of a formal Arizona State Railroad Museum in Williams, Ariz., (terminal of the Grand Canyon Railway), the Arizona Railroad Heritage Park has repatriated yet another piece of former Arizona rolling stock, Magma Copper Co./San Manuel Arizona RR General Electric 25-tonner 6, later long in operation at the Port of Duluth in Minnesota.

The diminutive switcher, still in its original paint scheme after nearly 60 years, arrived in Williams on a lowboy trailer on October 23. The locomotive once shared an engine house with the San Manuel Arizona RR, and Magma Copper owned the SMA, thus some overlap in ownership and roster. The Arizona museum’s advanced collection already includes former Magma Arizona RS-3 3, built in 1954 and acquired in late 2018 from the Oklahoma Railroad Museum. The San Manuel Copper Corporation (SMC Corp), San Manuel Arizona Railroad Company (SMARRCO; SMA), San Manuel Industrial Railroad, Magma Copper Company (Magma/MCC), and Magma Arizona Railroads (MARRCO/MAA) featured many interchangeable engines in several paint schemes, for over four decades, on two railroads.

The locomotive has been listed in production records as a GE 25-tonner, construction number 34584, order 2520, built in February 1964, but this loco has all the typical spotting features of the larger 35-ton model, including a higher hood, applied by GE to some of the last late-production 25-tonners. It also features an unusual independent-axle suspension. The locomotive had been acquired by the Ports of Duluth around 2000; it was declared surplus at the beginning of 2023, and donated to the ASRM Foundation by the Duluth Seaway Port Authority. The locomotive is functionally still operable, needing only some routine maintenance.