Montana Western Railway

Classic Trains General Discussion
1

I have un-earthed several photo’s of Montana Western Rwy. locomotives and two “gas-electric’s” that ran the 52 miles of track between Butte, Garrison and Silver Bow, Montana… but that is where the trail ends. I have only found vauge references to the MWR on the internet, and was hoping that someone on this forum might have some information, or know an “information source”.

Thanks…

Iron Goat

2

There were two Montana Western Railways. The first one was built before 1929 and ran 20 miles from Conrad to Valier and was purchased by Great Northern on Dec 31, 1969 and i Believe BNSF is still operating it.
The Union Pacific built a line to Butte from Idaho in the 1800’s and continued north to the Northern Pacific mainline at Garrison. A few years later they sold the line to the NP. BN sold this line in 1986 and then BNSF bought it back in 2003.

3

Thanks for the reply. Were there really two “different” MW’s, and was one of them narrow gauge ? I have photo’s of a 2-6-0, a 2-8-0, and a Gas-Electric that were all supposedly purchased from GN. They apparently had a small local passenger operation between Valier and Conrad. I have just found a Yahoo group (BUTTE) where there is a lot of info being passed about recent MW history, but very little in the 1940 to 1950 era.

Thanks again… Bob

4

They are about 120 miles and 17 years apart. I doubt their was any connection other than the name. I am not aware of any steam on the modern shortline running out of Butte.I have just the above info on the Conrad MWRy. NP could have had Gas-electrics on their line as they ran it for about 100 years.
Both lines are on this map
www.bnsf.com/tools/reference/division_maps/div_mt.pdf
The Yahoo group you mentioned is likely for the newer MWRy.
This says GN owned your MWRy for a long time
www.trainweb.org/rosters/MW.html

www.mcrwy.com/collectn/DIESEL/mw31.html
Dale

5

Montana Western gas-electric 31 was ex-GN 2313 and has been preserved. It is the oldest surviving example of an EMC gas-electric.

6

In an old issue of Ralroad Magazine I found a Montana Western 1960’s roster.One of the locomotives it lists is S-4470, a Baldwin built in 1955,had 470 horsepower.It sounds sort of strange having that low of HP.