One of the often-overlooked yet entertaining attractions that the state of Arizona offers is the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park. The charm of the park stems from its display of railroad innovations that rival some of the best railroad museums in the country and the fact that it is a park as well, so people can actually be entertained with the attractions that are on it, including, obviously a train ride.
Among the park’s attractions is the Paradise & Pacific Railroad, created by the park’s founder himself, Guy Stillman. The Paradise & Pacific Railroad was the first attraction to be offered in the park, making it the oldest and still functioning attraction. The gauge train has a route which includes 3,800 feet of track and 1,400 of sidetrack. There are two trestles, turntable, a tunnel, water tank, loading platform, two crossing signals and an extensive train shed and workshop on the attraction, making it as authentic as possible.
Running in the railroad are gondola cars, three steam engines, three diesel engines, two boxcars, two cabooses, a coach car, and a trolley car. There’s also a merry-go-round called the Charro Carrousel, which has been operating for more than 60 years already. For children, there are two playgrounds, with one offering a southwestern theme. The Xeriscape Arboretum, grown since 1980, hosts a good number of plant species unique to the region.
Meanwhile, exhibited in the park are the Magma Arizona Railroad Engine #6, which is only surviving Arizona & New Mexico engine remaining in the state, a railroad museum that houses an extensive line of historic railroad memorabilia and pictures, a Ronald Amundsen Pullman Car, the Gabre Brooks Machine Shop, which still contains original machining tools and Navajo Hogans, of which only two of three remaining of the Indian Hogan’s existing outside the Northern Arizona Navajo Indian Reservation.