Buffalo Creek and Gauley Railroad

The Buffalo Creek and Gauley Railroad (BC&G) was a railroad chartered on April 1, 1904 and ran along Buffalo Creek in Clay County, West Virginia. The original Buffalo Creek and Gauley ended service in 1965.
The BC&G was one of the last all-steam railroads, never operating a diesel locomotive to the day it shut down on February 27, 1965. Its primary purpose was to bring coal out of the mountains above Widen to an interchange with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Dundon.
== Route ==
Beginning at Dundon, the line ran east along Buffalo Creek to a terminus 18 miles (29 km) away at Widen. Along the way, it passed marked locations at Avoca, Sand Fork, the company towns of Cressmont and Swandale, and Eakle. Swandale contained the sawmill for lumber operations of the Elk River Coal and Lumber Company (ERC&L) and there was a small dairy at Cressmont. The railroad terminates at the Rich Run Coal mine yard in Widen.
At Avoca, the ERC&L logging line ran about 9 miles (14 km) out in the woods where the logging was done during the final years of operations.
After the BC&G ended operations in 1965, it was reactivated in 1971 by the Majestic Mining Company to serve a mine at Widen. The company used an Alco S-2 for power on the formerly all-steam route; the operation concluded in 1985. The line was again reactivated in the mid-1990s when the Elk River Railroad, Inc. (TERRI) reopened the route to Avoca to serve a mine there. The operation lasted until 1999, when American Electric Power (AEP) determined the coal to be too poor in quality.
== Locomotives ==
== Gallery ==
== Trivia ==
Category:Railroads
Category:Defunct Railroads