The Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad was built in 1904 to haul coal from Widen to Dundon in Clay County, where it connected to a larger railroad. It was owned by the Elk River Coal & Lumber Company, which also ran a sawmill and logging railroad at Swandale. All were part of J. G. Bradley’s businesses in Clay County.

By the 1960s, it was famous for still using steam engines. The company was later sold, and the steam trains retired. The railroad was used off and on for coal, and in 2023, one of its old steam engines, No. 4, returned to West Virginia to carry passengers between Cass and Durbin.