What Is The Train Station On Yellowstone?

As quickly established in “Yellowstone,” there’s more to the Dutton ranch than herding cattle and breaking horses. Until his untimely death, John Dutton (Kevin Costner) and his family built an empire on endless corrupt deals, exploiting anyone who dared think they had a shot at overpowering one of the most powerful families in Montana. As a result, any wrongdoer who dared make the grave miscalculation of taking them on often got sent to a location kept off the map. This hidden secret was a private place for the Duttons and, more specifically, their right-hand man, Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser), for whenever an issue needed dealing with permanently.

This spot, known as the train station, was the final stop for those who crossed our favorite family, whether they liked it or not. Just as often as brawls in the bunkhouse explode in Taylor Sheridan’s epic crime saga, visits were made to this haunting dumping ground, often attended under the cover of darkness. Throughout its five seasons, the train station has become the final resting place for some of the show’s biggest characters, with one even managing to escape and avoid a return trip back for his troubles. But where is the train station, and is its actual history as brutal as the one in “Yellowstone,” paved with blood and bodies?

The history of “Yellowstone” and the Duttons might be horrible in places, but the real one belonging to the train station’s inspiration isn’t much better. On the show, the train station — also referred to as The Long Black Train — is located just beyond the border in Montana. It’s a no man’s land, where secrets can easily get lost because of being slap bang in the middle of nowhere which isn’t monitored by any specific law enforcement. As described by some of the finest facial hair in the series, Lloyd Pierce (Forrie J. Smith) calls it “a county consisting of no people.” Still, it’s certainly full of dead ones, and the place that inspired Taylor Sheridan’s lifeless location presumably has just as much foot traffic.

The real train station is known as the Zone of Death, a 50-square-mile unmonitored area within Yellowstone National Park, Fremont County, Idaho. Like the train station, its legal loophole was the draw for Sheridan, who mirrored the murky patch of earth. However, in the case of the train station while plenty of passengers have piled up on “Yellowstone” lethal landmark, one rare occasion saw someone make it out alive, and it was none other than one of the Dutton ranch’s branded staff who survived to sing another day.

The train station has taken hold of some pivotal players in the “Yellowstone” saga, including members of the Dutton family. However, an ex-con and Dutton staffer, Walker (Ryan Bingham), was fortunate to encounter Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) on a good day when he was taken out to the desolate area and released without Rip Wheeler’s knowledge. His punishment stemmed from his refusal to participate in the additional tasks requested of the other ranch hands, with Wheeler having no choice but to send him to what he thought would be his final destination.

His freedom sparked further issues among the ranch when days later, Rip heard Walker performing in a bar and very much alive. Learning that his demand had not been met, the slip-up caused issues between John Dutton’s right-hand man and his youngest son, with Walker caught in the middle. To avoid another trip to the station, the illusive Walker was given a choice — get his hands dirty like the rest of the branded bunch that often took trips to the train station, or end up in the dirt himself. As a result, Walker reluctantly helped dispose of a body at Rip’s request, thereby escaping the fate of being added to this unofficial monument for missing people.

While “Yellowstone” has come to a close with its fifth and final season, there’s nothing to say that we’ll ever be heading back to the train station any time soon. Given that Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip will start a ranch of their own in their own spin-off, it’s likely that more drama unfolds. The kind of drama that will see Wheeler revisit the station and address their issues the same way they dealt with their last big problem in the “Yellowstone” finale when Beth sent her own brother out to pasture.

In the closing chapter of “Yellowstone,” Beth deemed the train station a fitting final resting place for her adopted brother and straight-up nemesis, Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley). Given the level of treachery Jamie had committed to the family that took him in, it was a fitting end that he was wiped from the Dutton history books and never given a spot on the family plot. Of course, with a second season of the “Yellowstone” prequel series, “1923,” there’s a chance that we could find our way thrown back down to the scariest place in the franchise’s history, only in a totally different era. Well, trains don’t always run on time, after all.