Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway

The Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway  is a short line railroad in the U.S. state of Montana. The BA&P was founded in 1891 and operated as such until sale in 1985, when it was renamed the Rarus Railway . The railway was again sold in May 2007 to the Patriot Rail Corporation, and the name returned to the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway in July 2007.  The railway was the main conduit for ore transport between Butte and Anaconda, and was used for filming of portions of the 1985 Golden Globe nominated movie Runaway Train.

Founding
in 1890 a dispute between the Montana Union Railway and the Anaconda Company arose over the cost to transport copper ore from the Butte, Montana mines to the Anaconda, Montana smelters. Financed by the Marcus Daly, the interest behind the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, the Butte, Anaconda, and Pacific was incorporated in 1891 and opened for operation just two years later in 1893. While first operated primarily to carry ore from Butte to Anaconda the company was chartered as a common carrier and also carried passengers and general freight.

Early years

When it first opened, the BA&P used steam locomotives to haul the ore, freight, and passenger trains, however the heavy daily use took its toll on the engines, and by 1910 alternative power sources were being sought. The BA&P was an electrification pioneer by converting from steam to electrification between 1912 and 1913.  As such it was the first major railroad line to electrify, with  out of  powered. While the common voltages used were 600 or 1200 volts DC, BA&P electrification was the highest available at that time, being 2,400 volts DC. The work was performed by General Electric and the railroad's own staff. As described in a period article:
 
The BA&P sourced its electrical power from Great Falls, Montana  to the northeast, and the power was converted from AC to the 2,400 volt DC at several substations along the railway.  To replace the aging steam power, an order of seventeen new  electric locomotives was placed with General Electric, with two being passenger locomotives and the remaining fifteen being freight locomotives. The two passenger locomotives were outfitted with double pantographs, dual headlights, and were geared for a standard running speed of  while pulling three coaches.  In contrast the freight locomotives had single headlights and one pantograph each, plus were geared for a standard speed of . More locomotives were soon needed and a second order of four locomotives was made with General Electric in 1914.  These units were geared lower than the other freight units and intended to be used at slow speeds in the smelter and Butte mine yards.  The 1913 GE locomotives were marked as numbers 50 through 66, the 1914 units 46 - 49, the 1916 units 42 - 45.

During the electrified years, an average of eight passenger runs between Butte and Anaconda were made daily, with four runs going each direction.  Usually the runs were performed by locomotives #65 or #66, which would pull a three car train of two passenger cars and a baggage car.  Power was supplied to the cars via a 600 volt cable connected to the locomotive's dynamotor.  Freight runs were nearly all comprised of ore loads, hauled in  ore cars each of which could carry . Groups of 30 ore cars were assembled at the mines in Butte and brought out to the yard at Rocker where a 60 car train, weighing an average of  was compiled for transport on the main line to Anaconda. In the West Anaconda yard the train was broken up into  groups and then taken by a single locomotive to the smelter for unloading.

De-electrification
The electrification was abandoned in 1967 as it had become cheaper to operate diesel-electric locomotives.

Sale

The railroad lost much of its business following the closure of the Anaconda smelter, and was sold to a consortium of local investors and reconstituted as the Rarus Railway  in 1985.

On July 19, 2007, Patriot Rail Corporation, the parent company which had acquired Rarus Railway in May 2007, officially changed the railways name back to Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway.

Preservation
Many resources of the railway were included in the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

Film credit
In 1985, The BA&P became the backdrop of full-length feature film Runaway Train. The film, directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, starred Jon Voight, who was nominated for an Academy Award & won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, Eric Roberts, who was nominated for an Academy Award & Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, Rebecca DeMornay, John P. Ryan, Kyle T. Heffner, Kenneth McMillan & Edward Bunker who also co-wrote the script. It was filmed on BA&P tack and at the Anaconda roundhouse in March 1985. The film was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture - Drama.

See also 
 Milwaukee Road

Footnotes

References

External links

Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railway Web site

Montana railroads
Former Class I railroads in the United States
Electric railways in Montana
Patriot Rail Company
Anaconda Copper