Community fundraising helps Helena’s Last Chance Tour Train roll on
Helena’s Last Chance Tour Train raised just under $100,000 toward a $150,000 replacement unit, keeping the 71-year-old attraction in motion for 2026.
Community donations have pushed Helena’s Last Chance Tour Train closer to steady footing, but the nonprofit still has a six-figure repair bill to clear before the long-term fix is finished. The tour train, which brings just under 20,000 visitors a year through downtown Helena, raised just under $100,000 toward the $150,000 needed to replace one of its towing units. Leaders said grants secured over the winter also helped cover expenses and bought time while the new unit is being built.
The train matters well beyond nostalgia. It is a 71-year-old nonprofit operation created in 1954 under Helena, Unlimited, a group organized by the Helena Chamber of Commerce to interpret and promote the city’s historic sites. Visit Helena also points visitors to the train as part of the downtown experience, where year-round events and historic attractions help drive foot traffic, visitor spending and seasonal work for local businesses.
The operating strain became visible earlier this year, when the nonprofit said it was dealing with unusual large expenses, including staff, insurance and winter storage costs. At one point in May 2025, fundraising through Greater Helena Gives had brought in about $1,000 before the broader campaign gained traction. The damaged towing unit is beyond repair and will not run this season, so staff added a 7 p.m. evening tour to help offset the loss of seating capacity. That matters to the business side of the operation because fewer seats on each run can mean fewer riders and less revenue on busy days.
Construction on the replacement unit has been underway for about a month at Helena College’s airport campus, where welding instructor Cody Torres is building it. Torres also built the active unit eight years ago, giving the project a local workforce-training component as well as a tourism one. The new design keeps the Ford F450 truck base, which staff say should make it easier to maintain, easier to drive and safer, with better access under the hood to reduce future repair headaches.
The company hopes the rebuilt unit can debut at next year’s Vigilante Day Parade. Leaders are also considering putting the old unit on display somewhere in Helena so residents and visitors can still see part of the train’s history. For now, the fundraising surge has kept the attraction on track, but the remaining gap shows the operation is still balancing tourism demand, maintenance costs and the pressure to avoid another rescue appeal.
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