Crawford Hill is located on BNSF Butte Subdivision between Edgemont, SD, and Alliance, NE. East of Crawford the railroad has to climb 821 feet on average grade over 1.55% over the Pine Ridge escarpment. Here eastbound heavy trains get a push from a pair of Crawford Helpers for the 12 mile climb out of Crawford. In 1982 the BN redid alot of the trackage thru here to add double track mainline, reduce the grade, and remove use of the Belmont Tunnel. Now days coal traffic down so train movements aren't as much. I believe only 1 helper crew does the shoving each shift, so the railroad is limited on eastbound capacity thru here as it takes around 90-120 minutes to shove and get back in position.
