Charlie Russell Chew Choo

The Charlie Russell Chew Choo is the seasonal dinner train of Central Montana Rail, Inc., a locally governed nonprofit short line whose route reads like a chapter of Montana railroad history. Most of the trackage was built by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad as part of its 'Northern Montana' line toward Great Falls, while the southern 19.6 miles from Moccasin to Kingston Junction began as a Great Northern Railway branch toward Lewistown; the route features four high steel trestles and a 2,000-foot tunnel. When the Burlington Northern Railroad discontinued operations in 1983, the State of Montana acquired most of the line, and Central Montana Rail began running it in 1985 from headquarters in Denton. Though primarily a freight hauler connecting with BNSF at Moccasin, the railroad hosts the Chew Choo between Kingston Junction — about ten miles northwest of Lewistown — and Denton, plus December 'Polar Express' runs in which kids ride to 'Christmas Town' to pick up Santa while elves read the book and pour hot cocoa. The line even had a Hollywood turn: the climax of the 1996 film Broken Arrow was filmed on Central Montana Rail between Lewistown and Denton.