Montana Railroad Museums (2026): A Complete Guide

Published: October 14, 2026

Montana’s railroad museums are depots on the three Chicago-to-Seattle main lines, plus one logging engine at an old Army post. Livingston keeps the 1902 Northern Pacific station that sent passengers to Yellowstone. Fort Missoula has Willamette No. 7, a 1923 geared locomotive from the Western Lumber Company. Harlowton’s 1908 Milwaukee Road depot sits at the east end of the electrified mountain district, with boxcab E57B in town. Whitefish’s 1928 Great Northern station is still an Empire Builder stop, and the Stumptown Historical Society keeps a museum inside it.

The Milwaukee Depot Museum, which has preserved the Milwaukee Road's 1908 depot in Harlowton, Montana. Museum photo.

The Charlie Russell Chew Choo and the Alder Gulch train are rides, and their calendars are on the Montana scenic-train guide. American-Rails does not sell tickets. Confirm the doors before you drive.

On this page: At a glance · Montana railroads · Livingston · Fort Missoula · Harlowton · Whitefish · Related reading

At a glance

Place	Town	What it is known for	Site
Livingston Depot Center	Livingston	Third Northern Pacific depot, 1902, Reed & Stem. Given to the city in 1985. Depot Center from 1987. Exhibit “Rails Across the Rockies”	livingstondepot.org · 200 West Park Street
Historical Museum at Fort Missoula	Missoula	Willamette No. 7, Portland, 1923, built for Western Lumber. Later Anaconda. Donated by Champion International in 1989. Restoration under way	fortmissoulamuseum.org · 3400 Captain Rawn Way
Harlowton Milwaukee Depot Museum	Harlowton	1908 Standard Class A depot. Boxcab E57B, originally 10211B, static in town. Shop goat X3800 has been displayed beside the depot	harlomilwdepot.org · 307 Central Avenue South
Whitefish depot and museum	Whitefish	Great Northern station of 1928, Thomas D’Arcy McMahon. Stumptown Historical Society from 1990. Museum inside from 1992. National Register July 11, 2002. Still an Empire Builder stop	stumptownhistoricalsociety.org · 500 Depot Street

Montana railroads

The Utah & Northern reached Butte on December 26, 1881, the first railroad into the territory’s mining country. Mileage peaked at 5,072 in 1920. The 2020 figure is 3,657. Three Chicago-to-Seattle railroads then crossed the state. The Northern Pacific was the Yellowstone road. The Great Northern took the Hi-Line. The Milwaukee Road finished its Pacific Extension in 1909 and electrified west from Harlowton beginning in 1915. Lines West were abandoned by 1980, and the Soo Line bought what the Milwaukee still had in 1985. Montana Rail Link ran the old Northern Pacific across the state from 1987 until the lease ended in 2022. BNSF and Union Pacific are the freight railroads. The state account is the Montana railroads page.

Two tourist trains sit outside this list of museums. The Charlie Russell Chew Choo boards at Hanover, about 10 miles from Lewistown, on the Milwaukee spur built toward Denton in 1912 and 1913. Passengers were running by September 1914, and the first dinner train left on July 4, 1994. The trip is 56 miles round trip. Alder Gulch is Charlie Bovey’s 1964 line between Virginia City and Nevada City, about 15 minutes, with the golden spike driven on September 10, 1999, by Governor Marc Racicot. The historic mining railroad reached Alder. The 2026 Alder Gulch season ended on September 7. Both rides stay on the scenic guide.

Livingston

Livingston was the Northern Pacific’s gateway to Yellowstone. The railroad began that service through town in 1883. The station at 200 West Park Street is the third depot, completed in 1902 and designed by Reed & Stem, the firm that designed New York’s Grand Central. The style is Italianate. A baggage building and a restaurant, the beanery, are tied to the depot by a colonnade around a courtyard beside the tracks.

Passenger trains used the building until 1979, when Amtrak discontinued the North Coast Hiawatha and ended service to southern Montana. Burlington Northern, the Northern Pacific’s successor, used the depot as offices and gave it to the city in 1985. The Livingston Depot Foundation restored it, and the Depot Center opened in 1987. The permanent railroad exhibit is “Rails Across the Rockies.” The museum season is the summer, and the dates are on the depot’s own site. The Livingston Model Railroad Club keeps an HO layout in the basement of the baggage building.

Fort Missoula

The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula occupies the post established in 1877, at 3400 Captain Rawn Way. The railroad piece on the grounds is Engine No. 7, a three-truck Willamette built in 1923 by the Willamette Iron & Steel Works of Portland for the Western Lumber Company at Milltown. Visitors often read it as a Shay. The museum’s own account of the engine calls it a Willamette. Anaconda Copper bought Western Lumber in 1928 and put the locomotive on the Big Blackfoot logging railroad. It was fired again for the film Timberjack. Champion International gave it to the museum in 1989.

A restoration is under way, the museum’s Save the Train project. No. 7 is a display engine. The grounds map also marks a Galloping Goose crummy and a library car of 1921. Hours follow the museum.

Harlowton

Harlowton took its name from Richard Harlow of the Montana Railroad, and it became the Milwaukee Road’s helper terminal at the east end of the Rocky Mountain electrification. The depot at 307 Central Avenue South was built in 1908 as one of the railroad’s Standard Class A passenger stations. Passenger service on the line ended in the early 1960s, and the Milwaukee left the yards in 1980. The building is now the Harlowton Milwaukee Depot Museum. It posts a summer season. The Milwaukee Road Historic District, depot and shops together, was listed on the National Register on July 8, 1988, reference 88001024.

Boxcab E57B, originally 10211B, is the survivor kept in town. It is the ES-3 switcher from the 1915–16 Alco and General Electric order, and its class page is the Milwaukee boxcabs. A marker records E57B and E34C tied up on the Harlowton roundhouse track at 11:40 p.m. on June 15, 1974. The shop goat X3800 is a different machine. Deer Lodge built it to run on a 220-volt cord from the roundhouse, because the turntable and the house sat off the 3,000-volt trolley. Photographs show it beside the old depot. The depot’s homepage does not name it, so confirm it is on the grounds before you plan the stop around that engine.

Whitefish

The Great Northern completed the Whitefish depot in 1928, at 500 Depot Street. Thomas D’Arcy McMahon designed it, the same architect who worked on Glacier Park Lodge and Many Glacier Hotel, and the building is the railroad’s Tudor, chalet-like station for the park gateway. Burlington Northern transferred it to the Stumptown Historical Society in 1990. A small museum opened inside in 1992, beside the waiting room. The National Register listing is July 11, 2002, reference 02000766, as the Great Northern Railway Passenger and Freight Depot and Division Office.

The depot is still a working Amtrak station. The Empire Builder calls here. BNSF uses office space upstairs. The museum is the historical society’s room of Whitefish and Flathead Valley material, railroad pieces included. The hours are on the society’s site.

Railroad museums · Montana railroads · Montana scenic trains
Northern Pacific · Great Northern · Milwaukee Road · Soo Line · Montana Rail Link · Union Pacific
Milwaukee boxcabs · Milwaukee Road X3800 · Shay locomotives · Idaho railroad museums

Sources

Livingston Depot Center, livingstondepot.org, 200 West Park Street. Third Northern Pacific depot, completed 1902, Reed & Stem, Italianate, baggage building and beanery linked by a colonnade. Northern Pacific service to Yellowstone via Livingston from 1883. Passenger service ended in 1979. Burlington Northern donated the depot to the city in 1985. Depot Center opened in 1987 under the Livingston Depot Foundation. Permanent exhibit “Rails Across the Rockies.” Livingston Model Railroad Club layout in the basement of the baggage building, reported June 9, 2025. The museum season is posted on the site.
Historical Museum at Fort Missoula, fortmissoulamuseum.org, 3400 Captain Rawn Way. Fort established 1877. Engine No. 7, Willamette Iron & Steel Works, Portland, 1923, built for the Western Lumber Company at Milltown. Anaconda Copper bought Western Lumber in 1928. Fired for the film Timberjack. Donated by Champion International in 1989. Restoration is the museum’s Save the Train project. Grounds map: a Galloping Goose crummy and a library car of 1921. Hours follow the museum.
Harlowton Milwaukee Depot Museum, harlomilwdepot.org, 307 Central Avenue South. Standard Class A passenger station, 1908. Summer season posted on the site. Milwaukee Road Historic District listed July 8, 1988, reference 88001024. Boxcab E57B, originally 10211B, static at Harlowton. Marker: E57B and E34C tied up on the roundhouse track at 11:40 p.m., June 15, 1974. Shop goat X3800, the Deer Lodge cord-powered switcher, has been displayed beside the depot. Confirm it is on the grounds. The boxcab class is the Milwaukee boxcabs page. X3800 has its own page.
Stumptown Historical Society, stumptownhistoricalsociety.org. Whitefish depot, 500 Depot Street, Great Northern, completed 1928, architect Thomas D’Arcy McMahon. Society acquired the building in 1990. Museum opened inside in 1992. National Register July 11, 2002, reference 02000766. The Empire Builder still stops. Hours follow the society.
Utah & Northern into Butte, December 26, 1881. Peak mileage 5,072 in 1920. Current mileage 3,657 in 2020. Northern Pacific, Great Northern, and the Milwaukee Road Pacific Extension, completed 1909, electrified west from Harlowton beginning in 1915. Lines West abandoned by 1980. Soo Line, 1985. Montana Rail Link, 1987–2022. Those figures and names match the Montana railroads page. Charlie Russell Chew Choo: Hanover, Milwaukee spur 1912–13, passengers by September 1914, first dinner train July 4, 1994, 56-mile round trip. Alder Gulch: Bovey line from 1964, golden spike September 10, 1999, season ended September 7, 2026. Both rides stay on the scenic guide.

Confirm hours and which locomotive is on the property before you travel.

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