KENNECOTT COPPER CORPORATION

 GE B-70 Locomotive No. 801


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The General Electric Company was a major builder of locomotives from 1918 to 2018. Besides large mainline locomotives, they built smaller ones like this for industrial purposes.

This one was built in 1957 for the Kennecott Copper mining operation in Hayden, Arizona. Ore from the Ray Mines was brought to the Hayden smelter for processing, then this locomotive hauled waste material to the slag disposal area. In the mid-1970s it was painted in red, white & blue Bicentennial colors, and was used for general in-plant switching. When Kennecott's Ray Mines Division was sold to ASARCO in 1986, this locomotive began serving the nearby ASARCO smelter in Hayden.

It was eventually acquired by the Copper Basin Railway, whose president Jake Jacobson donated it to the museum in 2017.

This 35-ton diesel locomotive was built in Erie, Pennsylvania, by the General Electric Company in September 1957, model B-70/70-1GE763, builder number 33104. It and a sister locomotive were purchased by the Kennecott Copper Corporation, but were lettered as Western Knapp Engineering Nos. 1 and 2 while Western Knapp was building the Hayden smelter. This one was No. 1. It weighs 70,000 lb and has 30-inch drivers powered by a chain drive. It was originally powered by a 235 hp inline-6 diesel engine, which was eventually replaced. Nos. 1 and 2 were re-lettered as Kennecott Copper Nos. 801 and 802 in 1958, and were used for slag disposal service.

In the mid-1970s, the smelter changed their slag disposal process to use specialized rubber-tired slag hauling trucks. This locomotive was repainted and used as a general plant switcher. It became ASARCO (formerly American Smelting and Refining Company) No. 801 in 1986, and ran until its retirement in 2014. 

Jake Jacobson of the Copper Basin Railway acquired it in 2017. Copper Basin shop personnel rebuilt and repainted the locomotive to pristine condition prior to donation to the Arizona Railway Museum. The chain drive was removed for transport by rail to the museum. A large blue tarp was wrapped around the locomotive to prevent vandalism, and it was moved from Hayden to Magma Junction on September 20 of that year. The Union Pacific moved it from Magma Junction to McQueen Junction on September 22, and then from McQueen Junction to the museum on September 25, 2017. The drive chain was re-installed, and the locomotive is operational.

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9/25/2017 - Tarp removed, flags installed, looking pretty.

9/25/2017 - Tarp removed, flags installed, looking pretty.
9/25/2017 - Locomotive was covered with a tarp during the Mesa-Chandler move to prevent vandalism.
6/1986 - Engine in service moving copper concentrate cars at smelter in Hayden, AZ.

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