Yellowstone Valley Railroad
The Yellowstone Valley Railroad is a shortline railroad in northeastern Montana, also crossing into North Dakota. It operates two branch lines leased from the BNSF Railway in 2005 - Snowden to Glendive and Bainville to Scobey - connected by trackage rights over BNSF's Northern Transcon between Snowden and Bainville.
History
The northern segment, from Bainville to Scobey, was constructed by the Great Northern [Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway], opening to Plentywood in 1911 and Scobey in 1914. A further extension was built to Opheim and later abandoned. The other line was built as a pair of branch lines connecting Sidney to the GN at Snowden and the Northern Pacific Railway at Glendive. The Snowden-Sidney piece was completed by the Montana Eastern Railway, a GN subsidiary, in 1915, and the remainder by the NP in 1912. Effective August 15, 2005, the YSVR leased both of these lines from the BNSF Railway, successor to the GN and NP.