Eureka station was a station on the Great Northern Railway's ''

Empire Builder The ''Empire Builder'' is an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that operates daily between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great Northe ...

'' in

Eureka, Montana Eureka (Kutenai language: ʔa·knuk̓inʔis) is a town in Lincoln County, Montana, United States, south of the Canada–US border. The population was 1,380 at the 2020 census. The town's mayor is LeeAnn Schermerhorn. Geography Eureka is locat ...

. It closed in 1970 when

Lake Koocanusa Lake Koocanusa () is a reservoir in British Columbia (Canada) and Montana (United States) formed by the damming of the Kootenai River by the Libby Dam in 1972. The Dam was formally dedicated by President Gerald Ford on August 24, 1975. The la ...

was made, flooding The Kootenai River as well as Rexford, MT, where the lines used to run from Eureka to Libby. Around

Stryker The Stryker is a family of eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicles derived from the Canadian LAV III. Stryker vehicles are produced by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-C) for the United States Army in a plant in London, Ontario. I ...

, the

Flathead Tunnel The Flathead Tunnel is a railroad tunnel in the Rocky Mountains of northwest Montana near Trego, approximately west of Whitefish. Located on the BNSF Railway's Kootenai River Subdivision, it is the second-longest railroad tunnel in the United ...

was constructed to bypass Eureka and go to Libby.

Today

The tracks are still in use in Eureka as part of the

Mission Mountain Railroad The Mission Mountain Railroad is a shortline railroad in northwestern Montana, operating two segments of the former Great Northern Railway (later Burlington Northern and BNSF) since December 2004. MMT is a subsidiary of Watco, operator of severa ...

. They operate as a branch line to Whitefish and the Flathead Tunnel but are mostly used to transport lumber and other goods to and from Eureka. The tracks that were in Old Rexford are still there, underwater in Lake Koocanusa.

Notes

Former Great Northern Railway (U.S.) stations Railway stations closed in 1970 Former railway stations in Montana Buildings and structures in Lincoln County, Montana 1970 disestablishments in Montana {{Montana-railstation-stub