Guide to Arizona's Miniature Railroads
Featuring
Paradise and Pacific Railroad
McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park's Paradise and Pacific Railroad in Scottsdale, Arizona
The Paradise and Pacific Railroad is a live steam, 15 inch gauge, railroad located
within the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park at the southeast corner of Scottsdale
and Indian Bend roads in Scottsdale, Arizona. The eighty acre site which was once
a ranch far beyond the northern outskirts of town is now right in the middle of
burgeoning Scottsdale. The park and its railroad equipment are the legacy of the
late Guy Stillman, who donated family land to the City of Scottsdale and created
through his non-profit Scottsdale Railroad and Mechanical Society a well-funded
organization to maintain and preserve the scale railroad far into the future.
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Operated by the City of Scottsdale since 1975, the Paradise and Pacific Railroad features
3800 feet of mainline track, 1400 feet of sidetracks, multiple trestles, a tunnel, passenger
loading platform, turntable, water tank, two Allan Herschell crossing signals and an extensive
engine house and machine shop. The real treat of the P & P isn’t the top quality track work or
wonderful track side amenities or even the ride, but the exquisite locomotives and the beautifully
crafted rolling stock. The locomotives were all either built or rebuilt by master craftsman Bill Daney
of Pueblo, Colorado. Known for his attention to detail and meticulous use of scale, the equipment
is patterned after turn-of-the-century Colorado narrow gauge equipment. The locomotives and cars are
built to 5/12 scale and the rolling stock is lettered for the RGS, C & S, DRGW, Carson & Colorado
and other railroads of historical significance.
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Three beautifully crafted live steam engines, Nos. 10, 11 and 12 and three diesel engines, 207, 208, & 209 comprise the motive power of the P & P. The typical train consists of eight gondolas, a cattle car and a caboose pulled by a diesel engine during the week and live steam on the weekends. A second train is operated on the busier weekends. The length of the ride is roughly eight minutes and is a great value at the ticket price.
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The hours of operation vary by month, but the park generally opens at 10:00 a.m. and remains open until just
before dark. During June, July and August, the train runs from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. and then again from
4:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. The park is open daily except Christmas Day and Thanksgiving.
What started in the early 1950’s as a private railroad for family and friends on the
Stillman estate with a locomotive, a speeder, tank car, two gondolas and a caboose has
grown to include the six engines noted previously as well as approximately 25 gondola cars,
the tank car, a handful of cattle cars, a flatcar, beautifully-detailed combination coach,
trolley, 2 handcars, speeder, and several other work cars of all varieties. The train
which transported Guy Stillman and his children around their ranch now carries more than
300,000 passengers per year.
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McCormick–Stillman Railroad Park also houses several full size railroad attractions.
Stillman Station is a full scale replica of the beautiful Southern Pacific Railroad station
in Clifton, Arizona. Three authentic wood-framed depots are also resident at McCormick–Stillman
Park. The Aguila depot, built in 1907 by the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway, and the
Peoria depot built in 1895 by the same railway, were acquired and moved to the park in the 1970’s
where they have been restored and now house specialty shops. The Maricopa depot built in the
1930's by the Southern Pacific Railroad was moved to the park in 2003.
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A 1907 vintage 2-6-0 Baldwin steam engine sits in static display on the rail in front
of Stillman Station and coupled behind are a Pullman dining car built in 1914 which houses
a small museum and another Pullman car, the Roald Amundsen, which was build in 1928.
The Amundsen, which on different occasions reportedly carried Presidents Hoover, Roosevelt,
Truman and Eisenhower, houses displays of railroad china and depicts a leisurely and luxurious
way of travel long past.
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Other railroad items of interest at the park include several cabooses, Arizona’s Forty
and Eight French boxcar which was filled with gifts from the French people with gratitude
after their liberation at the end of WWII, a live steam club of 7 ½ inch gauge trains which
offer free rides on weekends and a clubhouse filled with model trains of virtually every gauge.
A classic Allan Herschell carousel constructed in 1950, numerous grass volleyball courts, picnic
ramadas, Indian hogans, an extensive xeriscape display and railroad-themed snack bar are among
the other attractions at the park.
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| Engine No. | Type | Builder | Construction Date |
| No. 10 | 4-6-0 | Bill Daney | 1980 |
| No. 11 | 2-8-2 | Bill Daney | 1956 |
| No. 12* | 2-6-2 | Texas & Pacific RY Shops | 1943/Reblt. 1967 Bill Daney |
| No. 207** | SW8 | Guy Stillman/Schlosser | 1953 |
| No. 208 | GP7 | Chuck Schlosser | 1960/Reblt. 1980 P & P RR |
| No. 209 | GP38 | Custom Loco/P & P RR | 2002 |
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