Take a Peek Inside This Abandoned Montana Railroad Relic

How many times have you driven past the large brick building pictured above? It's easily visible from I-90, just east of Missoula between Clinton and Nimrod. If you've ever wondered what it's all about, read on and enjoy these interesting images captured by an urban explorer.

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Situated within a stone's throw of the Clark Fork River, the cavernous structure was built as a railway substation, constructed in 1910 by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad.

It's electric.

Back then, locomotives on this 438-mile stretch of railway were powered by electricity. The substation buzzed with energy as it converted 110,000 volts AC to the required 3,000 volts DC to power the trains.

Ravenna Sub Station #9 is one of 13 that were built along the railway between Harlowton, MT, and Avery, ID, according to PreserveHistoricMissoula.org. It's one of four similarly designed buildings that are still standing in Montana.

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Broken glass and rusty steel.

Most of the original equipment is long gone. Surely, the company took the most valuable stuff when Ravenna Sub Station #9 shut down in 1980; the railroad company discontinued electric-powered locomotives in 1974.

Trespassers and scrap collectors likely wiped out any leftover copper or significant steel pieces.

Was there ever a town at Ravenna?

Looking at Google Earth, there doesn't seem to be any other existing buildings near Ravenna.

There might be evidence of old foundations nearby where perhaps worker housing once stood, however, my internet digging didn't find much additional history about the site or its employees/residents.

Nope, no, no way, not a chance we'd go down that dark, mysterious hole.

Preserve Historic Missoula placed Ravenna Sub Station #9 on its 2018 list of Most Endangered Historic Sites that it would like to save, noting "they would support any possible adaptive reuse of the historic building."

The clock is ticking, though, as the elements slowly but surely chip away at the brickwork. The video below shows several sections of the rooftop where bricks are starting to fall.

Reminder: Trespassing is illegal, and exploring abandoned places can be dangerous. Under no circumstances should you enter this property. Leave that to YouTubers like davidegg22.