KENNECOTT COPPER CORPORATION
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This
small industrial locomotive served Kennecott Copper Corporation's smelter
operation in Hayden, Arizona, and its Ray Mines Division near Kearny, Arizona.
The
Ray mine has one of the largest copper reserves in the United States. It was
first developed in 1899 and was served by the Ray & Gila Valley Railroad from
1910 until 1944. Kennecott acquired the property in 1944, and began converting
it from an underground mine to an open pit mine. The locomotive was built in
1949, and at some point a wide-vision extension was added to the side of the cab
to provide the engineer with greater visibility. ASARCO bought the entire mining
operation from Kennecott in 1986.
The
locomotive was retired from service in 2005, and was donated by ASARCO to the
Arizona Railway Museum in 2015.
This
20-ton locomotive was built in Plymouth, Ohio, by the Plymouth Locomotive Works
in September, 1949, model JLB, builder number 5490. It was originally lettered
as Kennecott Copper–Ray Mines Division No. 81, and was put into service
primarily at the Hayden smelter.
It
weighs 40,000 lb and has 24-inch drivers powered by a chain drive. It was
originally powered by a 136 hp gasoline engine, but was converted to a Cummins
diesel engine salvaged from another piece of mining equipment. An Allison
transmission was added and connected to the original manual gear box, and at
some point the 18-inch cab extension was added to the right side. As a testament
to its operating reliability, the locomotive acquired the nickname "Donkey"
from its crew.
Kennecott began converting its underground Ray mine to an open pit mine
beginning in 1947, completing it in 1955 when the underground mine closed for
good.
In
1986, after it was acquired by ASARCO (formerly American Smelting and Refining
Company), the locomotive became ASARCO No. 81, served at the Ray Mine, and ran
until its retirement in 2005. It then remained out of service for about 10 years
due to age, unreliability, and no longer conforming to current mine safety
standards.
Donation of the locomotive was initiated in 2015 by J. Chris Pfahl (retired) of
ASARCO. It was delivered by an ASARCO flatbed truck and was unloaded by
Southwest Industrial Rigging at the museum's Tumbleweed Park location on June
26, 2015. In 2021 it was repainted back to its earlier Kennecott Copper orange
color, and was renumbered as KCC No. 81.
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2/26/2021 - The locomotive gets a new paint job back to the original KCC orange. |
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6/26/2015 - Firemen's side. "DONKEY" visible under cab window. |
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6/26/2015 - Engineer's side. |
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6/26/2015 - The extended cab on the Engineer's side is easy to see. |
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6/26/2015 - Setting on ARM tracks. |
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6/26/2015 - Unloading at ARM. Southwest Industrial Rigging lifting locomotive from flatbed, About to swing around and set on museum tracks. |
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6/24/2015 - Loaded and ready for tie-down. |
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6/24/2015 - Lifting the locomotive for loading. Copper Basin freight train parked the the background. |
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Model JLB page from Plymouth catalog. |
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Sales brochure of Plymouth J-Series locomotives. |