When the
line
dieselized
in
the
1950s, the steam facilities were re- placed by a large diesel shop next to the mill. In 1982, the railroad was cut back from McNary to Snowflake, reducing the line to its current main line length of 38 miles with a five mile branch into the town of Snowflake.
With all lumber traffic since moved to trucks in later years, the Apache solely existed to serve the Southwest Forest Industries Paper Mill in Snowflake. It remained a busy five- day-a-week operation.
Over the years, ownership of the rail-
road and paper mill changed as South- west Forest Industries was purchased by Stone Container in 1987. The status quo was maintained until Stone Con- tainer was purchased by Abitibi Con- solidated, a Canadian company, in
RIGHT: On a hot August 28, 2012, Apache #99 leads the daily train from Holbrook to Snowflake past the red rocks at Milepost 5. The last month of regular operations had just begun on the railroad, but it was hard to tell as the Catalyst paper mill still required large daily trains powered by multi-unit lash-ups. BELOW: With over 8100 tons of coal on her drawbar, Apache Railway No. 98 slowly climbs up the first of many grade outside of Hol- brook. Watching these six Alco Centuries work to lift this massive train was one of the high- lights of any railfan’s visit to the Apache Rail- way.
1997. Abitibi modernized the Apache operation with a new paint scheme and new locomotives. Soon all of the loco- motives were in a striking green and white livery, and three ex-Canadian Pacific MLW’s arrived on the property. Ultimately, Abitibi sold the entire Snowflake operation including the rail- road to Catalyst Paper, another Cana- dian company, in 2008. Catalyst con- tinued to operate the railroad much as Abitibi had done before. However,
changes were looming on the horizon. As a multinational paper corporation Catalyst began to experience a massive loss in profits as demand for paper in some sectors decreased. To combat this loss, Catalyst began closing paper mills, first in Canada and then in the United States. Eventually the axe fell on the Snowflake paper mill, and it shut down for good on September 30, 2012. Closure of the mill took away roughly 90 percent of the railroad’s
44 SEPTEMBER 2013 •
RAILFAN.COM
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