Central Montana Railroad

Ladies & Gents,
I'm planning a trip out to Montana this coming May, and stumbled upon some bits and pieces as well as some photos about the Central Montana Railroad. From what I can gather, they run an 84 mile short line that services grain elevators in Montana on a former Milwaukee line. It looks like they have some incredible bridges and scenery and some cool GP9's.

Unfortunately, I can't find much more information than that. Anyone have some updated information on this operation? Thanks in advance.

About four years ago I ran a charter passenger train that covered the entire railroad. We had the general manager as our locomotive engineer and had accurate info as of that time. You can find info on the charter at www.southernappalachia.railway.museum. Several passengers and chasers also have photos on their websites.

The first day we ran from Kingston west to Mocassin (BNSF connection) on the former GN (20 miles of track) with an evening dinner train. This route crosses one huge bridge (Judith River).

The second day we covered the former Milwaukee Road line from Kingston to the end of the current track at Geraldine (66 miles) which has three huge bridges (normally about 1200 feet long and 150 feet high - Judith River, Indian Creek, and Sage Creek). The line from Kingston on in to Lewistown is out of service due to a large timber bridge. The line south of Lewistown has been abandoned by BNSF.

Traffic is not very happy but is busy during the grain rush season. There are major grain facilities at Geraldine and Denton.

There is also a dinner train that runs out of Kingston. It is called the Charlie Russell Choo Choo (bad name, but named for the artist who painted many of the western scenes in the area). The train used to run regular using 5 former RDCs, sponsored by the hotel in the former Milwaukee Road station. They stopped operating it several years ago and now it is basically operated by caters for groups and special events.

The route can be chased due to the slow speeds but it is mainly in and out photography.