I'm sorry to say that there are no books on the Apache, believe me when you see my handle you don't know how much I love the Apache Railway ESPECIALLY what is gone forever.
I don't understand why no one has produced a book on the Apache . There are so many Apache fans , yet not enough to make a book? I think the problem is not enough folks experienced
the best of the Apache . The Mc Nary -Holebrook line And the Maverick Line. There are not many fans who remember the wonderfull place of Mc Nary the smells the sights and the
sounds of a then vintage Lumber Mill. The White Mountain added along with the Apache operation so much to take in and remember. I have found every so often someone will sell
something vintage of the Apache on E-Bay. I have have found that Arizona Highways featured more on Vintage Apache than any railfan publication ever did. So look there, again on E -Bay.
Of course you will have to compete with me! There is a photo B&W on e-bay currently? Of the Big Lake Logging Load Out Train circa 1963. Nos 100 and 600 MUed complete with caboose.
I too knew "Reed" Hatch and the entire crew of the White Mountain Scenic. And I thinkl I know Mr. "Fuzzy Money". I too was on that Last Trip to Maverick in September 1967.
I still am in touch with the Hatch boys Marion , Ben.,and Willard. The Hatches have always been very special to our family. My whole life was changed forever and why I went into
tourist railroading pulled by steam because of The Apache the White Mountain Scenic Mc Nary and the White Mountains. Between Reed and Mr. Robert "Bob" Echolls I learned to become
a brakeman , fireman and eventually an engineer ,later in my railroad life. Without these two gentleman and my father and Apache Railway Engineer Lou Calhoon I don't know
where my life would be today. My whole life has been wrapped around living in the mountains and the rural and Cowboy lifestyle because of Reed and the Apache
and Mc Nary. Thanks to Ronie Lupie White Mountain Apache Tribal Chairman and our great Enviromentalists Mc Nary, the White Mountain Scenic Railroad and the Apache Railway
and the lumber industry in northeast Arizona as it once was is gone forever. I'm still just happy I still have the memories I have. As the Sierra 34 gathers cob webs in Jamestown and
36 and 100 rust to death in Oregon. Rest in peace "grandpa cho-cho" Reed Hatch and the White Mountain Scenic Railroad and The "Best" of the Apache."
P.S. I have not bought the book yet but I understand "Steel Trails" Arizona Railroads in the 1950s has quite a bit of photos of the Apache
logging operations. It is available through the Santa Fe Historical Society.
Arizona Ranger
