KENNECOTT COPPER CORPORATION

 Plymouth JLB Locomotive No. 81


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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.


2/26/2021 - The locomotive gets a new paint job back to the original KCC orange.
6/26/2015 - Firemen's side.  "DONKEY" visible under cab window.
6/26/2015 - Engineer's side.

6/26/2015 - The extended cab on the Engineer's side is easy to see.

6/26/2015 - Setting on ARM tracks.
6/26/2015 - Unloading at ARM.  Southwest Industrial Rigging lifting locomotive from flatbed,  About to swing around and set on museum tracks.
6/24/2015 - Loaded and ready for tie-down.
6/24/2015 -  Lifting the locomotive for loading.  Copper Basin freight train parked the the background.
Model JLB page from Plymouth catalog.
Sales brochure of Plymouth J-Series locomotives.

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