Rediscovering the Shortline Route.
BY CAITLIN STYRSKY
The rumble of the passenger train reverberates through the mountains as dawn breaks above the lodgepole pines on a crisp morning in 1925. Early risers, bright-eyed in sharp suits and long dresses, pace the train’s observation car in anticipation. In the sleeping cars, groggy faces peer out the windows to glimpse the emerging wilderness after a starlit night spent charging through untamed country.
A century later, two women pedal cruiser bikes along a paved path as the sun rises above those same mountains. Once home to a remote railroad track that saw the journeys of many early-20th-century visitors to Yellowstone National Park, the mountains and wetlands along the South Fork of the Madison River now host the Yellowstone Shortline Trail, a 9-mile path of living history. Along the trail, remnants of old trusses from abandoned railroad bridges reveal themselves through the swirling mist that rises from the river. As the women cruise along the pavement, the whir of bike wheels mingles with the nostalgic rumble of the old passenger train—long since passed—rolling toward Yellowstone.
A Railroad to Yellowstone
The first passenger train arrived in West Yellowstone—a popular gateway to the first national park—on June 11, 1908. The train’s arrival heralded a new era of tourism for the park and the small, welcoming village of rough homesteads and collection of rustic lodgings at the park’s West Entrance. Throughout the next 50 years, the Oregon Short Line, a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad, carried passengers from Salt Lake City to West Yellowstone each summer on rail excursions marketed as journeys to “Where the Geysers Gush.”
The first passenger train to operate on the route was the Yellowstone Special, which departed Salt Lake City at 7:30 p.m. and arrived in West Yellowstone around 6 a.m. the following morning. The train wound through the final 9 miles from Reas Pass into West Yellowstone as dawn broke, treating passengers to their first taste of Yellowstone alongside the meandering South Fork of the Madison River. Lucky observers may have spotted moose, elk or bears in the early hours.
Passengers disembarked in West Yellowstone at the striking stone depot, complete with lounges and private changing rooms, and could take refreshment in the nearby dining hall before embarking on stagecoach and—later—automobile rides into
Yellowstone. The Oregon Short Line added the Yellowstone Express train in 1922, which departed Salt Lake City in the morning and arrived in West Yellowstone by midafternoon. At the height of rail travel in 1925, a total of 44,786 passengers arrived in West Yellowstone by train, which carried tourists until 1960, when rail travel declined in favor of automobiles. Union Pacific abandoned the section of rail from Ashton, Idaho, to West Yellowstone in the 1970s and removed the tracks
in 1981.
In 1966, Union Pacific donated the historic depot, dining hall and other railroad buildings to the town of West Yellowstone. Today, the depot houses the Yellowstone Historic Center, where visitors can learn about the history of early travel to Yellowstone National Park and its influence on the surrounding region. The dining hall, with its tall windows and massive stone fireplace, is a popular events venue. Visitors can retrace the steps of the early rail travelers by following the walking tour of the Oregon Short Line Terminus Historic District along Yellowstone Avenue, marked with 21 plaques highlighting notable places and events. The original baggage building, for example, now serves as the town’s police station and the concrete-and-stone Union Pacific pylon, constructed in 1927 as a monument to commemorate the railroad’s role in bringing visitors to Yellowstone, still stands near the park boundary.
Just as the railroad buildings enjoyed new life over the years, so did the old roadbed. The pathway served as a popular playground for all-terrain vehicles in summer and snowmobiles in winter. Cyclists also loved to explore the old trail, but years of recreation took its toll, eventually breaking down the thin obsidian soil and making the path sandy and difficult to navigate. Those who frequented the trail were not ready to give it up, and with a little help from the West Yellowstone community, the trail experienced a revival.
A Rolling, Strolling Museum
Seated at the coffee bar in Freeheel and Wheel, West Yellowstone’s 28-year-old bike and ski shop, owners Kelli Hart and Melissa Alder toyed around with an idea. Keen on seeing the place they’d each enjoyed time and again available for generations to come, they contemplated how an improved path along the old railbed would facilitate access and allow for cycling, walking and other non-motorized activities through the scenic wilderness. Inspired by the work of the Greater Yellowstone Trail—a coalition of communities aiming to connect Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks via a world-class biking loop—Hart and Alder began floating the concept for the Yellowstone Shortline Trail to the local community.
Former West Yellowstone resident and history enthusiast Andrea Manship was among the first to hop on board. Manship’s grandmother and father used to ride the train in the 1930s from Ogden, Utah, to West Yellowstone to visit their summer cabin. Her family, the Dumkes, had been contractors with deep ties to the early rail history of the West. She and her husband, Mike, decided to offer a two-for-one match for the initiative through the Dr. Ezekiel R. and Edna Wattis Dumke Foundation.
“We felt very close to the history of the railroad and how important that history was to the area,” Mike said.
The Yellowstone Historic Center stepped in as the fiscal sponsor for the project. The notion of an accessible trail along the abandoned roadbed fit neatly with the center’s mission to develop and maintain West Yellowstone’s historic railroad district. Staff at the historic center envisioned creating “a rolling, strolling museum” that would bring more interest and life into the district through an immersive experience along the revitalized rail corridor.
In what would turn into the biggest fundraiser in West Yellowstone’s history, the initiative raised nearly $4 million through the support of the West Yellowstone community, the matching funds of the Dumke family, foundation giving, local government grants, and the cooperation of the Custer Gallatin National Forest (which helped secure a substantial grant through the Great American Outdoors Act to pave the trail). Construction broke ground in 2021 and the project was completed in 2024.
“It was amazing,” said Hart, reflecting on seeing the trail for the first time. “Not only was it completely gratifying for me, but I also felt good about completing the project for West Yellowstone. It’s gorgeous. You’re high up in places, looking down at the river, and it’s very scenic and wild.”
After a straight stretch for the first mile south from West Yellowstone, the trail turns and follows the South Fork of the Madison River into the wilderness. Nestled in the mountains away from busy roads and highways, the path is one of the quietest rail trails in the country. Interpretive signs line the trail with information about the area’s geography, wildlife and unique rail history. The remains of trusses from the railroad bridges can be seen in places, and some visitors have even discovered plates and spikes from the old railroad ties. True to Alder and Hart’s early vision, the trail is accessible for a wide range of people to enjoy.
Like the railroad track before it, the paved trail lies dormant each winter. While snowmobilers and cross-country skiers break their own trails, no formal maintenance takes place, and the path remains isolated and quiet, awaiting the activity of spring.
The Trail Ahead
A formal ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Yellowstone Shortline Trail is scheduled for Train Day, June 11, 2025. Plans for benches along the trail and other donor recognition pieces are in the works for the year ahead. The trail is poised to become a popular tourist attraction. It serves as an extension of the town’s robust railroad history, and an outdoor alternative for area visitors seeking a respite from the summer crowds in Yellowstone National Park.
Hart and Alder envision the trail becoming integral to the local community. Early discussions with stakeholders have yielded a pitch for developing a new greenbelt connecting the trailhead on Iris Street at the edge of town to the historic railroad district along Yellowstone Avenue. The new greenbelt would provide an area for outdoor recreation and historical appreciation future generations of the West Yellowstone community can enjoy.
To engage the area’s youngest members with the future plans for open greenspace, the West Yellowstone School held an art initiative last spring in which students depicted their vision for the greenbelt through drawings, sculptures and other artistic media.
Hart and Alder hope to put an endowment together to cover long-term maintenance for the trail and create a lasting legacy that celebrates the community’s unique history.
“This project has been lots of stops and starts,” Alder said. “It takes the right people in the right place at the right time to make it happen. That amount of support shows that people want it and that it’s valuable for the community.”
Hart agreed, “And it’s just right out our back door. It’s for everybody.”
Caitlin Styrsky is a writer and researcher based in West Yellowstone, Montana, where she developed an appreciation for local history and the earliest visitors to Yellowstone National Park. Her regional interest pieces have appeared in Mountain Outlaw and Explore Big Sky. When she isn’t writing, you can find her exploring the great outdoors or curled up with a good book.
