Western Montana Railroad Historical Association

Home
United States
Helena, MT
Western Montana Railroad Historical Association

Directions Website Contact the organization

WMRHA's physical address is 619 N Last Chance Gulch, Helena, Montana 59601, and our mailing address is 620-B Helena Avenue, Helena, MT 59601.

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to educate the public (thru modeling) about 1950-60's railroading in western Montana, and to preserve and present historical railroad artifacts and railroad modeling items relevant to the region. Currently we are only open to the public on Saturdays from 10 AM to 3 PM.

10/27/2026

This coming Saturday is Halloween, and in addition to being open to the public on our normal Saturday hours of 10 AM to 3 PM, we plan to also have an evening session of running trains and handing out Halloween treats to kids in costume from 5 PM to 7 PM! If you are in or near Helena, Montana - All aBOOard for Treats and Trains this coming Saturday (10/31/2026)!! Our thanks to Meagan and Tim for dressing up our front window for the occasion! ;-)

10/18/2026

While Scranton Pennsylvania might recently be most noted as the setting for the popular television series "The Office", it is also home to the National Park Service's Steamtown National Historic Site! https://www.nps.gov/stea/index.htm A recent visit to Steamtown by one of the WMRHA's board members resulted in some of the photos shown below. It is a truly amazing facility with way more to see than what is captured below. Additionally for Alco fans - the historic site is adjacent to the working yard of the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad, so you may get lucky and see some beautiful Alcos in operation!! This place is a long way from western Montana, but if you are travelling in the eastern U.S. it is well worth taking some time to visit!!

09/14/2026

A pair of Joe's could be seen dragging a long string of cars this weekend along the rivers and over the passes at the WMRHA's "Last Chance Layout"!! Stop by some Saturday (10 AM to 3 PM) and see what kind of motive power is struggling up the grades of our western Montana themed (and located) layout!!

08/06/2026

Just doing a little bit more testing of our "cab view" camera car that we built. Shawn was able to add lights so we can now see how the insides of some of our tunnels turned out! Some of them look pretty awesome - others?!?!? ;-) This particular video shows the train coming into Missoula on the Northern Pacific line, stopping at the depot, and then heading back eastbound toward Butte - running past Bonner, Garrison, and Anaconda on the way! Enjoy the Alco FA sounds!!

07/04/2026

One of our members captured this BNSF beauty traveling west across North Dakota on the old Northern Pacific route, heading for it's rendezvous with President Trump to give him a lift into historic Medora, ND!! Go Roughriders!! Good catch Tim!:-)

07/01/2026

Something new at the "Last Chance Layout"!

07/01/2026

The WMRHA has been working on getting and testing equipment that will allow us to provide an "engineer's view" of our layout! This video is an early test, and we hope to add lights and other improvements to our homebuilt "camera car"! This video was taken on our Milwaukee Road tracks, as an eastbound freight (with livestock) leaves the Missoula depot and heads towards Bonner, Garrison, Butte, and is on it's way up Pipestone Pass when the video ends.

06/07/2026

One of our WMRHA members caught this 250th anniversary beauty in the Helena yard! Thanks for sharing C.W.!!

06/01/2026

The WMRHA has been doing its part to "dress up" our little section of downtown Helena! Working with our awesome landlord, VEK Railway Supply, and the Helena Business Improvement District ( downtownhelena.com ), we were able to get our vandalized/wind damaged large front window replaced! As we are located on N Last Chance Gulch and right at the entrance to Helena's historic downtown, this new window and frame will make a much more positive impression of Helena for our many out-of-town visitors and guests! Thanks to all involved!!

04/28/2026

It's very important to have good track work so that your trains run smoothly, but most layouts don't really come to life without the effort of artists! A couple of recent additions at the "Last Chance Layout" include the new backdrop behind the Great Northern's Corbin Trestle (thanks Kim B. for the excellent artistry!), and the stained glass light fixture over our helix (thanks Scott and Mindy P.. for the lamp, Bill for glass repair, and Ron for installation!)! There are generally many hands involved with each improvement at our layout, and our visiting guests seem to really appreciate those efforts!!

Address

619 N Last Chance Gulch
Helena, MT
P.O.BOX2016,HELENA,MT59624

Opening Hours

10am - 3pm

Website

https://wmrha.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Western Montana Railroad Historical Association posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.