The North Coast Limited and the “Night­crawler”

MSU history professor Dale Martin draws upon themes and stories from his 2018 book “Ties, Rails, and Telegraph Wires: Railroads and Communities in Montana and the West,” published by the MHS Press. The book explores how railroads shaped and sustained the human landscape and economy of the West, Montana, and Billings well into the middle of the twentieth century. Railways provided essential transportation to communities and businesses. Passenger trains carried people, mail, express, money, newspapers, and milk in steel cans. Town residents knew the telegraphers and other station staff, track maintenance workers, and crews on local trains. People went to the station to meet arriving family members, see campaigning politicians, greet returning sports teams, or just to watch travelers and fellow citizens. Martin also covers the railways, trains, stations, and railroaders in the Billings-Laurel area and the activities at the Billings Union Station a century ago.