The copper mining region of far eastern Arizona is home to spectacular railroading and intriguing industrial history. Lothes, the Center’s president and executive director, became fascinated with the area during a college internship in 2000. He recently returned and was pleased to discover that, like a good wine, they have grown even more interesting with time.
Lothes became the Center’s full-time executive director in 2011, after serving on its staff part-time since 2008. In 2013 he succeeded John Gruber as president and editor of the Center’s journal, Railroad Heritage. He is a regular contributor to Trains, Railfan and Railroad, and other railroad publications, with more than fifty bylined articles and some 500 photographs in print.
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Arizona Eastern Railroad train 203 emerges from Tunnel 1 and is about to enter Tunnel 2 on the steep climb out of Clifton, Arizona, on March 9, 2020. The train is hauling copper concentrate milled at Freeport-McMoRan’s Morenci Mine, the largest copper mine in North America. Photograph by Scott Lothes