Frank Murphy, Arizona Territory's leading industrialist had been getting filthy rich over the last 20 years investing in mines and building railroads to central Arizona's most prosperous mining districts. These investments made him one of the wealthiest businessmen in the Territory. Yet there still was a mining district that had eluded him! It was high in the 6000-foot Bradshaw Mountains protected by a place called Crazy Basin. Many thought it impossible to build a mountain railway there because of the high cost and challenging mountain elevations. Murphy was determined to prove everyone wrong!

Murphy challenged his engineering teams to find a way to the summit at Crown King! Chief Engineer William Drake had a plan to conquer the mountain! Switchbacks! The result was one of the most spectacular standard gauge mountain railroad ever built!
The Bradshaw Mountain Railroad was an engineering and construction wonder when completed in 1904. It provided daily train service to the heart of the mountains.The railway used ten switchbacks, 31 wooden trestle bridges, a 142-foot tunnel and relentless track grades of up to 3.9% to climb 2,400 feet to the mountain summit.

Lastly personal narratives of the railroaders who built and worked to make this stunning railroad a reality are shared. Relive the mining and railroading boom and bust of the late 1800s and early 1900s that opened the Bradshaw Mountains to development and recreation. Learn the secrets of the forgotten Bradshaw Mountain Railroad from those who operated it.
Read intimate stories by 35 year Santa Fe railroader Charles Titchenal of surviving a train wreck, the 1918 flu epidemic and the trials of living in a box car house, as well more tails of everyday railroading life when steam engines, telegraphs and passenger trains ruled the day.