Arizona currently has and has had some fairly interesting short lines. Currently the Arizona and California and the Arizona Eastern are part of the Genesee & Wyoming which has taken some of interest away as the old paint schemes have started to disappear. The ones that I have had an opportunity to railfan include:
The Arizona Eastern. I have photos going back into the early 90's when they were running mainly GP9s, but my digital photography is from 2011 when they were running a passenger train on a short excursion. The station at Globe has had a wonderful restoration and this gem of a mining town is always interesting to me. The excursion ran west into the town of Miami just a few miles and then about 10 miles to the east to a reservation Casino. When the Genesee & Wyoming took over this operation ceased. My entire TCA Division took over the train for our 40th anniversary in these photos.
The Black Mesa & Lake Powell is another now defunct short line although the Navajo nation has purchased the line with some ideas about using it for economic development. I caught one of the original E60Cs in the spring of 2017 that were the basis for Amtrak's later passenger version in storage in Williams, AZ where there are plans for a railway museum one day. I guess the line isn't really local as it is a 6 hour drive, but once you get out of the major cities of Phoenix or Tucson nothing seems that far away out here.
The Copper Basin still remains independent and hauls copper ore on it's 54 miles of track and interfaces with the UP in the next county over. I caught these photos back in 2005. Their roster is currently a collection of GP39s and GP40s as well as their dash 2 equivalents. I caught the train while driving so please excuse the poor lighting and framing of these images.