Butte Special

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The Butte Special was a named passenger train run by the Union Pacific Railroad. It travelled from Salt Lake City, Utah to Butte, Montana, via Pocatello, Idaho, on UP’s Montana Division. It was UP’s only north‑south passenger train and connected with the Yellowstone Special at Idaho Falls, which went east to West Yellowstone near Yellowstone National Park.

In the 1920s its trains included mail cars, a Railway Post Office car, two or three reclining-seat coaches, a cafe/lounge car, and up to three sleeper cars. It offered full amenities like club-lounge and cafe-lounge cars and sleeping rooms, making it a well-equipped service for a route with a relatively small population.

UP tried to cancel the Butte Special in the 1960s, but it lasted until Amtrak took over most U.S. passenger trains in 1971. Near the end, the train lost the US Mail contract in 1967 and no longer ran daily, operating three times a week. In its final days, northbound trains ran on Thursday, Saturday, and Monday, while southbound trains ran on Friday, Sunday, and Tuesday.

From Salt Lake City the route went north to Ogden, then crossed into Idaho with stops at Pocatello, Blackfoot, Idaho Falls, Dubois, and Spencer before crossing Monida Pass into Montana. In Montana it stopped at Lima, Armstead, Dillon, Melrose, and Silver Bow before ending in Butte. Other railroads—Great Northern, Northern Pacific, and the Milwaukee Road—also served Butte. By 1970 the route had been narrowed to Ogden, Pocatello, and Idaho Falls on the way to Butte.

The Yellowstone Special was a separate timetable listing but was really an extra set of coaches that split from the Butte Special (or from the Portland Rose or City of Portland) in Pocatello and went to West Yellowstone, Montana.