“Serving Montana’s Heartland Since 1979”

HQ: Maple Hollow, Montana
Length: ~60 miles
Interchange: Burlington Northern – Maple Hollow, MT
Primary Commodities: Wheat, barley, fertilizers, livestock feed

Overview

The Buffalo Creek & Western (BC&W) is a 60-mile shortline in north-central Montana, running south from its Burlington Northern interchange at Maple Hollow. Located close to Shelby on the Hi-Line, Maple Hollow serves as the gateway for this rural railroad.

The BC&W winds through rolling hills, open prairies, and golden wheat fields typical of the country around Shelby, capturing both the isolation and productivity of Montana’s agricultural heartland.

The BC&W connects a mix of grain elevators, feed mills, and fertilizer dealers with the national rail network, while also handling agricultural supply shipments and small amounts of general freight.

The railroad takes its name from Buffalo Creek, a meandering prairie stream that runs near Maple Hollow and through much of the shortline’s territory.

Origins

The BC&W was incorporated in 1979, after Burlington Northern announced plans to abandon its lightly used former Great Northern branch line extending south from Maple Hollow.

Originally built in the 1910s to connect scattered farming communities with the GN main line, the branch had suffered from deferred maintenance and declining traffic under BN.

A coalition of local grain cooperatives, agricultural suppliers, and county officials purchased the line, creating the Buffalo Creek & Western Railroad. The name honors a historic settlement, long vanished but still remembered in local lore.

Industries Served

• Maple Hollow Farmers Co-op – Major terminal facility at the interchange, featuring a grain elevator, fertilizer distributor, and a separate feed mill.
• Anderson Grain Co. – Small, privately owned elevator west of Maple Hollow, served directly on the main line.
• Prairie Valley Grain – Large private elevator at the eastern end of the line, with two tracks for grain loading and car storage.
• Big Sky Lumber – Lumber reload yard receiving dimensional lumber and plywood for distribution to area builders and hardware stores.
• Montana Gas Service – Propane distributor with tank storage and a small transloading facility for truck delivery to rural customers.
• High Country Ag Supply – Regional dealer handling farm equipment, seed, and bulk fertilizer products.
• Clearwater Milling & Malting – Mid-sized malting plant producing barley malt for breweries in Montana and the Pacific Northwest.
• Twin Forks Grain – Independent elevator serving surrounding wheat and barley farms, located midway between Maple Hollow and Clearwater Junction.

Operations

The BC&W’s traffic is dominated by agriculture. Outbound shipments are primarily wheat, barley, and other grains in covered hoppers bound for domestic milling and export markets.

The railroad also handles inbound fertilizer, livestock feed ingredients, propane, and farm machinery. Lumber from Big Sky Lumber and malt from Clearwater Junction add variety, ensuring traffic flows year-round rather than only at harvest.

Traffic peaks during late summer and autumn harvest, when grain elevators fill with hoppers bound for BN at Maple Hollow.

Motive Power Roster (1985)

• BC&W #171 – EMD GP9, built for Great Northern (road no. 688) in 1956, later BN 1761. Purchased from BN in 1979 and rebuilt for short-hood-forward operation.
• BC&W #172 – EMD GP15-1, built for Missouri Pacific in 1976. Acquired secondhand in 1984 to handle peak-season grain traffic and provide backup power.

Both locomotives are maintained and refueled at Maple Hollow, using a designated track in the BN interchange yard equipped with a small fuel tank and tool shed.

Burlington Northern Connection

Location & Facilities

At Maple Hollow, the BC&W directly interchanges with Burlington Northern on the Hi-Line. BN locals from Shelby (west) or Havre (east) handle pickups and set-outs at Maple Hollow, forwarding grain blocks and other traffic to larger BN yards.

Facilities at Maple Hollow include:

• A short yard track for holding BC&W interchange traffic.
• A hand-throw crossover linking the BC&W spur to BN’s main yard lead.
• A modest office building used primarily for yard clerks and paperwork.
• A designated track used by the BC&W for light locomotive servicing and refueling, equipped with a small fuel tank and basic tool shed.

The interchange track also doubles as BC&W’s staging point for outbound loads and inbound empties.

Role in Grain Routing

BN plays a crucial role in moving the BC&W’s grain traffic to market. Outbound hoppers typically move east to Havre or west to Shelby, where they are assembled into larger unit grain trains bound for:

• Pacific Northwest ports (Seattle, Tacoma, Portland) for export.
• Midwestern milling markets via BN’s Class I connections.
• Inbound fertilizer and feed shipments to BC&W customers usually originate from:
• The Gulf Coast and Midwest (fertilizer plants in Louisiana, Iowa, and Illinois).
• Pacific Northwest ports for imported products.

Typical Car Types Handled at Maple Hollow Interchange

• Covered Hoppers – predominately 2-bay and 3-bay cars for grain, fertilizer, and feed ingredients.
• Tank Cars – occasional loads of liquid fertilizers or agricultural chemicals.
• Boxcars – sporadic shipments of bagged seed, feed, or machinery parts.
• Flatcars – occasional inbound farm equipment.

Car Ownership & Markings

Most covered hoppers are in BN’s Cascade green (including repainted NP, GN, and CB&Q heritage cars). Private-owner marks such as GATX, SHPX, and Cargill (CGLX) are common, with foreign road cars from Soo Line, Milwaukee Road, and Union Pacific appearing at harvest peaks.

Traffic Frequency

During peak harvest (late August through October), the BC&W may deliver 10–16 loaded hoppers to BN in a single day. Inbound fertilizer and feed ingredient shipments arrive in smaller cuts of 2–4 cars, usually in spring planting season or mid-year restocking. Lumber and malt shipments provide steady carloads outside the harvest season.

Header photo by Dawid Zawiła