Arizona is a location that many of us think as a "hot and desert type region".
In this video, we find that there is more than we realize. For the Santa Fe fans, the action is excellent. Most of the Santa Fe power near the end of the time is seen, pulling long high speed trains of all types of cargo.

For those of us who love excellent scenery and have never seen Arizona... there is plenty of scenes that will catch your eye. At times, you may think you are much further north, and at times... in a real desert. Some old structures of days gone by are seen also like some Harvey Houses that remain standing.

A great video that is a fine added touch to any railfan's video collection.

Additional remarks by rrvideoman:
Narration: Just enough.
Would kids enjoy this? Maybe.
Image quality: Excellent!
DVD Value: Good Value
Recommend to others? Definitely.

Arizona's Short Lines features plenty of SLOW freight drags and lots of specialty ore-hauling freight cars. The slow action plus excellent closeup videography lets the viewer study the cars and locos in detail. None of that SWOOSH by you and "What was that?"

There's immense variety in the six short lines featured on the video--EMD, Alco, and Baldwin are all present. Copper Basin Railway uses GP39s and SD39s as well as some older rebuilt Geeps. San Manuel runs Alco RS3s. Magma Arizona runs Baldwins. Arizona Eastern runs GP20s. The Arizona and California features GP20s in a beautiful green,cream, and beige livery. The Apache RR runs Alcos--two different vibrant paint schemes appear in the video. Some of the locos seen here are pretty enough to rival the desert in bloom!

There's a fair amount of switching work, again at slow speed so there's time to study the action. One intriguing bit of video featured covered hoppers being loaded with perlite. Perlite is a very light-weight, low density mineral used as an ingredient in potting soil. It's a bit like styrofoam pellets, but not man-made. So how much can a load of perlite add to the weight of an empty hopper?

While most of the freight is specific to the mining industries, there is some SP and ATSF interchange action. (Those names should help you date the video!)

Other oddities in this video are a short bit of street running, a cab ride, and a cab-equipped ore car (for visibility when the mine train is pushing backwards.

Arizona's Short Line Railroads is one that I watch again and again, one that easily enters my list of all-time favorites.

First the program begins in Topoct AZ, then were are at the border in new Mexico, in the deserted town of Lipton. Eventually there are lots of other Arizona towns and abandoned sites on the busy double track mainline for 2 subdivisions, which includes seligman and Gallup. Not only the blue and yellow diesels put on a fine show, but there are some new style red and silver warbonnet units as well as Amtrak's southwest chief. Some freights even have cabooses. No matter how many lash ups from 2 to 8 or rarely 10 or more, this wide open state has many freights rolling through the dessert nonstop. This video had since been historic since the blue & yellow diesels and the red and silver warbonnets no longer roll through, neither does the F40PH's on Amtrak.

Additional remarks by Steamboy:
Narration: Just enough.
Would kids enjoy this? Yes.
Image quality: Good.
DVD Value: Good Value
Recommend to others? A "Must Have"!