Central Montana Rail, Inc. is a short line

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

operating trackage in Judith Basin, Fergus, and

Chouteau Chouteau was the name of a highly-successful ethnically-French furtrading family based in Saint Louis, Missouri, which they helped found. Their ancestors Chouteau and Laclède initially settled in New Orleans. They then moved up the Mississippi ...

Counties,

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

. The company's main line extends approximately , between the towns of

Moccasin A moccasin is a shoe, made of deerskin or other soft leather, consisting of a sole (made with leather that has not been "worked") and sides made of one piece of leather, stitched together at the top, and sometimes with a vamp (additional pane ...

and Geraldine; the line connects with the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

at Moccasin. Most of the current Central Montana trackage was originally constructed by the

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), better known as the Milwaukee Road , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986. The company experienced financi ...

, as part of its "Northern Montana" line to Great Falls. The southern of line, from Moccasin to Kingston Junction, was originally constructed by the Great Northern Railway as part of its

Lewistown, Montana Lewistown is a city in and the county seat of Fergus County, Montana, United States. The population was 5,952 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Lewistown is located in the geographic center of the state, southeast of Great Falls, Mo ...

branch. The overall line features four high steel trestles and a -long tunnel. In addition to the operated line, the Central Montana system includes an unused route between Spring Creek Junction and the northern outskirts of Lewistown; this trackage has been idle since the 1980s due to perceived structural problems with the massive Spring Creek Trestle, just east of Spring Creek Junction. Most of the Central Montana trackage was acquired by the State of Montana in 1983 when its then-current operator, the

Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States–based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1995. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroad ...

, discontinued operation of the route. Central Montana Rail, a locally governed nonprofit corporation, began operating the route in 1985. The company's motive power consists of six

EMD GP9 The EMD GP9 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by Electro-Motive Diesel, General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between 1954 and 1963. The GP9 succeeded the EMD GP7, GP7 as the second model of EMD's General Purpose (GP) line, inco ...

diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

s, originally built for the Great Northern Railway. The railroad's operating headquarters is at

Denton, Montana Denton is a town in Fergus County, Montana, United States. The population was 205 at the 2020 census. Central Montana Rail, Inc. is headquartered in Denton. History A post office called Denton has been in operation since 1888. It was named ...

. Though primarily a freight railroad, the Central Montana also operates a seasonal dinner train, the "Charlie Russell Chew Choo," between Kingston Junction (10 miles north west of Lewistown) and Denton. The dinner train equipment consists of unpowered

Budd Rail Diesel Car The Budd Rail Diesel Car (RDC), also known as the Budd car or Buddliner, is a self-propelled diesel multiple unit (DMU) railcar. Between 1949 and 1962, 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The cars ...

s originally built for the

Boston and Maine Railroad The Boston and Maine Railroad was a United States, U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. It was chartered in 1835, and became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the e ...

. In December, the Chew Choo operates several "Polar Express" runs, which boards at Kingston Junction and takes kids to "Christmas Town" at the north Pole to pick up Santa, who rides the train back to Kingston Junction. On the train, elves read the book and serve hot cocoa and cookies to the kids. Round trip is approx. 1.5–2 hours.

References

* Lewis, Edward A. ''American Shortline Railway Guide.'' Milwaukee: Kalmbach Publishing, 1996, p. 69. .

External links

Current website of the Charlie Russel Chew Choo

Old website of the Charlie Russell Chew Choo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Central Montana Rail Inc. Montana railroads Railway companies established in 1985 Transportation in Chouteau County, Montana Transportation in Fergus County, Montana Transportation in Judith Basin County, Montana Spin-offs of the Burlington Northern Railroad 1985 establishments in Montana