BAP GP38-2 2011Ramsay MT Ramsay

The Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway opened in 1893 to haul copper ore from the mines in Butte, Montana to the smelter in Anaconda, Montana. In the early 1920's it was said that half the copper mined in the US was carried over the BAP's rails. The railroad was also the first major US heavy haul railroad to electrify, doing so between 1912 and 1913. In 1985 the railroad was sold to local investors and renamed the Rarus Railroad. It was sold again in 2007 to the Patriot Rail Corporation and the name was changed back to Butte, Anaconda, and Pacific. Today the line operates 26 miles (42 km) of mainline.