Side dump cars are open top cars which carry loose material like rock and gravel for track maintenance.

This one was built by the Western Wheeled Scraper Company in 1929 for the Ray Consolidated Copper Company at Ray, Arizona, to haul rock and dirt for railroad construction and repair. It has a capacity of 20 cubic yards, and was designed to dump at a steep angle to discharge its load quickly. The tilting bed is actuated by a large compressed air cylinder on each side, so it can be tipped to one side or the other to empty its contents alongside the track.

Later acquired by Kennecott Copper Corporation, this car last saw service on the Copper Basin Railway serving the Ray mine. It was donated to the museum by Copper Basin CEO Jake Jacobson in 2015.

When the car is to be unloaded at a dumping location, one entire side panel is rotated down 90 degrees to be level with the bed, then the cylinder on the opposite side raises the bed to a nearly 45 degree angle. This creates a flat sliding surface that empties the contents onto the ground far enough away so it won't fall on the track.

The Western Wheeled Scraper Company of Aurora, Illinois, built tilting dump cars for railroad construction from 1910 to 1930. It held numerous patents by Thomas R. McKnight.

The Ray Consolidated Copper Company was the parent company of the Ray & Gila Valley Railroad which served the Ray mine and the Hayden smelter. It was succeeded by the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company in 1927, and became the Ray Mines Division of Kennecott Copper Corporation in 1943. The American Smelting & Refining Company (ASARCO) acquired the Ray mine and Hayden processing facilities in 1986, and the Copper Basin Railway took over the Kennecott railroad operation at that time.

At the time of its donation, this 65,000 pound car had been long out of service and was stored on the "dead line." Due to its older friction bearing axles, the car could not be moved by rail so it was delivered to the museum's Tumbleweed Park location via lowboy trailer on November 3, 2015.

	KCC #528 arriving by lowboy truck. Due to friction bearing axles, the car could not move by rail.
	Being lifted from lowboy truck and swung around onto ARM tracks.
	Not every day you get to see the bottom of a 65,000lb freight car.
	KCC #528 at end of freight car train in ARM display yard.

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