Taking someone to Yellowstone’s train station never works out well, but what is this mythical place and how many of the Dutton’s foes have gone there?
The “train station” has played a key role during several episodes of Yellowstone, and here’s everyone who has been sent there. As Yellowstone and 1923 have shown, life on the Dutton ranch is hard work. The family always needs to fend off attacks by developers or other outside interests, with many of those disputes ending with bloodshed, trauma or traumatic bloodshed. Each season of Yellowstone repeats a variation on that pattern, and while most of the Dutton’s enemies tend not to live past their respective series – RIP the Beck Brothers – it never feels like the ranch is any safer when the gunfire has died down.
While Yellowstone has become its very own TV empire with an ever-expanding list of spinoffs – including 1883 and the upcoming Bass Reeves – the show itself might be drawing to a close. Reports have suggested Kevin Costner is eager to exit the hit series, and while it might end in its current form, it would continue in the form of another spinoff led by Matthew McConaughey. Whether that means Costner’s patriarch John Dutton will die is another question, but if he does, he may join the many other bodies present at the bottom of the “train station.”
The Train Station Is A Killing Ground For The Yellowstone Ranch
The train station was introduced in season 1’s “The Long Black Train.” This saw a disrespectful ranch hand assault one of Yellowstone’s “branded” men, and after being kicked out, he’s given a drive to the “train station” by Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith). Instead of locomotives, it’s revealed this particular station is really a remote canyon past the Montana border. This is a place the Duttons have used for decades to kill their enemies before throwing the bodies into the canyon. This area is loosely based on a real place located in Yellowstone National Park where – theoretically – a murder could be committed but the killer couldn’t be legally convicted for it.
This is because juries in federal criminal cases must be made up of those who live in both the state and district. Since this so-called “Zone of Death” has no residents, no such jury could be assembled. Thankfully, nobody has tested this loophole out, and attempts are being made to close it. While the “long black train” was a plot device in the early years of Yellowstone
How Many Have Been Killed At Yellowstone’s “Train Station”
The very first victim audiences saw being killed at Yellowstone’s train station for attacking a branded man was Fred Myers (Luke Peckinpah), but he was far from the first. Season 5 showed a flashback where a young Rip gets into a fight with a ranch hand named Rowdy (Kai Castor), with the former killing the latter during a brawl when Rowdy insults Beth; his body is later dumped in the canyon. Yellowstone season 3 featured a two-for-one special, where a former branded worker named Wade (Boots Southerland) attacked the Duttons one time too many. In revenge, they cut off his brand – while Morrow was still alive – before disposing of him.
His son Clint (Brent Walker) ended up there too, after fracturing his skull following a fall. Arriving in Yellowstone season 4 was Brad Carter’s Chester, a mercenary who formed part of a coordinated assassination attempt on the family. John later challenged him to a duel near the canyon, which the former (naturally) won. The most recent passenger was Garrett Randall (Will Patton), who organized the aforementioned hit attempt. Garrett was also Jamie’s (Wes Bentley) biological father, with the latter later forced to kill Garrett by a vengeful Beth. He dumped Garrett’s corpse down the canyon – though not before Beth took an incriminating picture of the deed.
