All aboard! Riding through the Old west on the Charlie Russell Chew Choo
By BEN PIERCE Chronicle Outdoors
The sharp gasp of a fellow passenger drew my attention moments before the blast of a shotgun broke the lonely sound of the prairie. I looked north through the window of the train as an armed bandit appeared over the rolling hills in the failing sunlight. He was riding hard, shotgun firm against his shoulder.
On the south side of the train more bandits appeared, some firing pistol shots toward the train cars. I saw their forms only for a moment before the light faded. We’d just passed over the Sage Creek trestle between Denton and Danvers as we entered the blackness of the Hoosac Tunnel.
Three cars ahead in the engine room, the conductor pushed the locomotive hard through the tunnel, but the train drew slowly to a halt as we emerged from the darkness. The bandits had beaten us to the other side and were waiting, guns drawn when we arrived.
Welcome to the lone prairie – land of cowboy bandits, hurdy gurdy girls and the Charlie Russell Chew Choo. Billed as Montana’s premier dinner train, the Charlie Russell Chew Choo departs from Lewistown and travels nearly 70 miles to Denton and back on a roundtrip tour of the state’s spectacular central prairie. The prime rib dinner, live music and Old West train robbery do not disappoint.
The train is named for Charles Marion Russell, one of Montana’s most esteemed artists. Born in Oak Hill, Mo., in 1864, Russell moved to Montana’s Judith Basin at the age of 16 at the behest of his father. As a boy, Russell spent his days occupied with drawing and crafting small figurines of animals, not the focus his father – a successful businessman – envisioned for his son.
Russell went to work on a sheep ranch own by Jack Waite. He would stay in Montana, enamored with the West – its cowboys and Indians, its sweeping landscapes, its defining character – for the remainder of his life.
Russell’s deepest love was depicting his Montana surroundings through art. He painted extensively with oils, worked with pen and ink and water color. In 1919, the Prince of Wales purchased one of Russell’s paintings for $10,000 – at the time the most ever paid for a painting by a living artist. That work is still on display in Buckingham Palace.
Passengers board the Charlie Russell Chew Choo at Kingston Junction on the Central Montana Rail line eight miles west of Lewistown. The train passes the Spring Creek Hutterite Colony located on the fertile banks of the Judith River before crossing the first of three trestles.
The Judith River trestle was a massive engineering feat when its construction was completed by Great Northern tracklayers in the fall of 1912. The trestle cost a staggering $200,000 and spans 1,884 feet. Passengers today cross the same steel beams and concrete housing set nearly 100 years ago.
From the train, passengers will enjoy views of the Judith River Valley and rolling prairielands as the train passes through the defunct railroad towns of Ware, Danvers and Hoosac. Wildlife such as whitetail deer, red-tailed hawks and woodchucks compliment the views of the Moccasin Mountains.
Prior to passing over the Sage Creek trestle, the first prime rib dinners of the evening make their way from the caboose to the front of the train. Served with roasted potatoes, horseradish and a smile, the fare – and the service – is as impressive as the setting.
The train stops for about 30 minutes in the town of Denton where the locomotive is detached and reattached for the return trip to Kingston Junction. Key lime pie, cheesecake and live country western tunes occupy passengers until the bandit hold-up at the Hoosac Tunnel.
The show lasts for about 20 minutes, with the bandits boarding the train and collecting cash (real and make-believe) from passengers. Once the looting has ceased the charade carries on with hurdy gurdy girls boarding the train and sharing their love with each and every male passenger.
Things wrap up with an Old West shootout with a humorous twist.
The Charlie Russell Chew Choo continues its route for another half hour back to Kingston Junction. Along this stretch, passengers can marvel at the majesty of the Western sunset draped upon the prairie.
Looted, loved and full of prime rib, passengers arrive back at Kingston Junction just after dark. The whole ride is a thrill for the senses, full of all the western allure Russell poured into his paintings.
If he were alive today, Charlie would wholeheartedly approve.
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