Charlie Russell Chew-Choo Dinner Train
211 E Main St
Lewistown, MT
A slow evening rail journey across high trestles and open prairie, with dinner served aboard and the occasional staged train robbery.
The Charlie Russell Chew-Choo is central Montana's dinner train, named for the cowboy artist who loved this country. It carries passengers out from the Lewistown area on former railroad line, curving across the open prairie, over tall trestles that span the coulees, and through a tunnel, while a meal is served aboard and the long Montana evening unfolds outside the windows.
It is less about getting anywhere than about slowing down. The train ambles at a pace that lets you watch antelope in the grass and the sun drop behind island mountain ranges, and on some runs a band of cheerful outlaws stages a mock train robbery. For a few hours you travel the way people crossed this country a century ago, at the speed of steam and supper.
What Guests Love
- Rolling slowly over tall wooden and steel trestles high above the coulees
- Dinner served aboard as the prairie light goes gold and then pink
- The occasional staged train robbery, played for laughs on some runs
- The unhurried, sociable pace, a rare way to see central Montana's back country
Worth Knowing
- It runs a limited seasonal schedule, mainly summer and fall, and trips sell out; reserve ahead
- This is an excursion and a meal, several hours long, not a point-to-point ride
- Trips depart from a rural boarding point rather than a downtown depot; confirm the meeting spot
- Evenings on the prairie cool off fast, so bring a layer
Details
Lewistown, MT
Learn about Charlie Russell Chew-Choo Dinner Train
Rails across the heart of Montana
The excursion follows railroad line laid across central Montana in the railroad-building era, when tracks stitched the ranching and mining towns of the interior to the wider world. Building through this rolling prairie meant throwing long trestles across the coulees and boring a tunnel through a ridge, feats that still carry the train today.
Lewistown grew up as a hub of this network, a supply and shipping town for the ranches and small mines around it. When regular rail service faded, the scenic potential of the line remained, and the dinner train was created to share it, taking its name from Charlie Russell, whose paintings gave this exact landscape its lasting image.
The ride and the meal
A trip runs several hours, out and back, at an easy pace. The high point, literally, is crossing the tall trestles, where the land drops away on both sides and the whole prairie opens up, and passing through the line's tunnel. Between the crossings, the train rolls past ranchland, grazing pronghorn, and the distant blue of the Big Snowy, Judith, and Moccasin mountains.
Dinner is served aboard as the train moves, a full sit-down meal that makes the excursion as much an evening out as a train ride. On many trips, actors in the guise of prairie bandits stage a good-natured hold-up, a bit of theater that plays especially well with families.
The pleasure is in the pace. There is nowhere to be but at the window with a plate in front of you, watching a landscape most travelers only see from the interstate, if at all.
Seasons and planning
The Chew-Choo runs a limited schedule, concentrated in the warmer months and into the autumn, and popular dates fill early, so it pays to book ahead. Trips leave from a rural boarding point near Lewistown rather than a town depot, so confirm exactly where to meet.
Central Montana evenings cool quickly once the sun is down, even in summer, so carry a layer for the open-air moments and the walk back to your car. Pair the ride with a day exploring Lewistown and the surrounding mountains, and you have a genuinely different Montana experience, unhurried and a little bit theatrical.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Lewistown
Lewistown Historic District
About 20 miles
A handsome stone-built downtown, the work of Croatian masons, at the exact center of Montana.
Big Snowy Mountains
About 25 miles
An island mountain range south of town with hiking, an ice cave, and long prairie views.
Gigantic Warm Springs
About 25 miles
A clear, constant-temperature spring-fed swimming hole in the ranch country south of Lewistown.
Charlie Russell country
All around
The open ranch prairie and island ranges that fill the cowboy artist's paintings, seen best on the back roads.