Ride the Black Hills Central Railroad - Hill City, South Dakota
All ABOARD the historic 1880 train running ten miles between Hill City and Keystone, South Dakota. This railroad line was originally built as a mining railroad for gold in the Black Hills. It reached Keystone on January 20, 1900 and was later used to haul equipment for carving nearby Mount Rushmore. The Baldwin 2-6-2T #104 locomotive and train cars and have been featured on television shows, such as the Gunsmoke episode Snow Train, General Hospital, and the TNT mini-series, Into the West. It also appeared in the movie, Orphan Train. Keep your head and arms in the train at all times since hot embers shower those who don't!
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Black Hills, South Dakota - 1880 Train / Black Hills Central Railroad at Hill City, SD (2019)
The Black Hills Central Railroad is a heritage railroad that operates in South Dakota, United States.
It currently operates the 1880 Train on the former Keystone Branch of the Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) between Hill City, South Dakota, and Keystone, South Dakota. This railroad line was originally built by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad as a mining railroad for gold in the Black Hills. It reached Keystone on January 20, 1900, and was later used to haul equipment for carving nearby Mount Rushmore.
In 1957, William Heckman and Robert Freer started the Black Hills Central Railroad which began operating a tourist passenger excursion train service on this line. In 1972, the Black Hills flood destroyed the last mile of the Burlington Northern/Black Hills Central line in Keystone, which was later restored in 2001.
The Black Hills Central Railroad restores early twentieth century-era locomotives and train cars and has been featured on television shows such as the Gunsmoke episode Snow Train, General Hospital, and the TNT mini-series Into the West. It also appeared in the movie Orphan Train.
Trains operate between early May and early October over the scenic 10-mile (16 km) line.
Preserved equipment:
The BHCR operates rare, well-preserved, and operational steam locomotives:
# 7, Baldwin 2-6-2, built 1919 as P&NW #7.
#103, Baldwin 2-6-2T, built 1922 as Silver Falls Timber Company (S.F.T.Co.) #103 before being sold to the BHCR in 1965.
#104, Baldwin 2-6-2T tank locomotive (pictured), built 1926 as S.F.T.Co. #104 before being sold to the BHCR in 1965
108, Baldwin 2-6-6-2T, built 1926 as Potlatch Lumber Company #24. Acquired by Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, Washington. Sold to the BHCR in 2016.
#110, Baldwin 2-6-6-2T, built 1928 as Weyerhauser Timber Company #110.
The Black Hills Central Railroad also has two diesel locomotives on its engine roster:
#63, EMD GP9, formerly Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) #6178.
#6657, Whitcomb 80 Tonner, built 1943 as US Army #7379.
EXPLORING KEYSTONE, SOUTH DAKOTA
Keystone is a town in the Black Hills region of Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 337 at the 2010 census. It had its origins in 1883 as a mining town, and has since transformed itself into a resort town, serving the needs of the millions of visitors to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, which is located just beyond city limits. Keystone was heavily damaged in the 1972 Black Hills flood.
The town took its name from a local mine, which most likely was named after the keystone Masonic symbol.
Black Hills, South Dakota - 1880 Train / Black Hills Central Railroad Departing Hill City, SD (2019)
The Black Hills Central Railroad is a heritage railroad that operates in South Dakota, United States.
It currently operates the 1880 Train on the former Keystone Branch of the Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) between Hill City, South Dakota, and Keystone, South Dakota. This railroad line was originally built by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad as a mining railroad for gold in the Black Hills. It reached Keystone on January 20, 1900, and was later used to haul equipment for carving nearby Mount Rushmore.
In 1957, William Heckman and Robert Freer started the Black Hills Central Railroad which began operating a tourist passenger excursion train service on this line. In 1972, the Black Hills flood destroyed the last mile of the Burlington Northern/Black Hills Central line in Keystone, which was later restored in 2001.
The Black Hills Central Railroad restores early twentieth century-era locomotives and train cars and has been featured on television shows such as the Gunsmoke episode Snow Train, General Hospital, and the TNT mini-series Into the West. It also appeared in the movie Orphan Train.
Trains operate between early May and early October over the scenic 10-mile (16 km) line.
Preserved equipment:
The BHCR operates rare, well-preserved, and operational steam locomotives:
# 7, Baldwin 2-6-2, built 1919 as P&NW #7.
#103, Baldwin 2-6-2T, built 1922 as Silver Falls Timber Company (S.F.T.Co.) #103 before being sold to the BHCR in 1965.
#104, Baldwin 2-6-2T tank locomotive (pictured), built 1926 as S.F.T.Co. #104 before being sold to the BHCR in 1965
108, Baldwin 2-6-6-2T, built 1926 as Potlatch Lumber Company #24. Acquired by Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, Washington. Sold to the BHCR in 2016.
#110, Baldwin 2-6-6-2T, built 1928 as Weyerhauser Timber Company #110.
The Black Hills Central Railroad also has two diesel locomotives on its engine roster:
#63, EMD GP9, formerly Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) #6178.
#6657, Whitcomb 80 Tonner, built 1943 as US Army #7379.
Journey Museum Black Hills Travel Shorts
Fort Hays | Black Hills: Rapid City, South Dakota
About
Be sure to visit the Dances With Wolves Film Set and The South Dakota Movie Museum along with their entertaining dinner theater. And don't forget the ever famous $.99 ALL YOU CAN EAT PANCAKES
6 miles south of Rapid City, SD on HWY 16
For more info visit
Top Things to See, Things to Do, and Places to Eat in the Black Hills, Rapid City, South Dakota along Highway 16 near Mount Rushmore
Dakota Pathways: The Home Front
Dakota Pathways: A History was a 20-part series used by Educator's across South Dakota for use in their classrooms. The 14 minute long segments explore some of the history of South Dakota. The Home Front is the 17th segment produced in the series.
It was the summer of 1988. My brother and some of my friends had important choices to make because they had just graduated from high school. Most of them decided to continue their education at a four year college. One of my friends, Jason, decided to join the Air Force. He left for basic training and was gone for what seemed like an eternity.
Initially Jason was stationed in Guam and then he requested Ellsworth Air Force Base in the Black Hills. His request was granted and he arrived in South Dakota. He enrolled in some satellite classes in Rapid City and came home most weekends. Everything seemed the same because we would still go fishing, cruise around, watch movies and have fun.
Then it happened; Jason was given two weeks to say goodbye because he was being sent to the war in the Persian Gulf. I can still remember his going away party. It was a normal going away party with smoked carp, mountain oysters, and deer salami. The only difference I noticed was in the way Jason and his parents were acting. Normally, they were full of laughs and jokes. They were still laughing and it looked like they were having fun, but they were not. I could tell there was terror and uncertainty in their thoughts.
To me, Jason and his family became heroes overnight. Jason put himself in danger making a huge sacrifice so all of us would be safe. Jason's family had to endure the sacrifice with him. They were left on the home front having to worry ever minute of the day not knowing if their son was safe.
Jason went away to war and then part of him returned. His child-like innocence never came back. He had seen and experienced things on the frontline I would never understand. His family and I also changed. We experienced life on the home front worrying and praying, watching the news and cringing every time a United States soldier was killed.
Over the years I have had many friends, family members and students become heroes defending my freedom with their lives. I would like to thank all of the heroes and their families for making the sacrifice of defending the freedom of every United States citizen. Your courage, loyalty and commitment will never be forgotten. History captures your sacrifice in words, pictures, and video. You will always be remembered as defenders of freedom at parades, events and gatherings where the U.S. flag is raised and, most important, you will be remembered as heroes in every American heart.
Edgemont, SD city park
Stopped here to play and have lunch. Really pretty!!
South Dakota - Badlands NP - USA road trip #4
Set - Oct 2015, Day 3. A two episodes timelapse round trip, Rapid City - Murdo (South Dakota). In this episode: Badlands NP and Wall Drug Store. Previous episode: Pioneer Auto Show (Murdo) and 1880 Town Museum (Midland).
South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center
A Visit to the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center, Pierre SD.
Tour of Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota
Jon Olson, a South Dakota native, gives you on a tour of Americas #1` Roadside Attraction: Wall Drug, located in Wall South Dakota.
BISMARCK STREET FAIR EVENT IN 2018! ONLY ONCE A YEAR EVENT!
Street food. Bismarck main ave. Downtown Bismarck food and scenery.
South Dakota's Black Hills (Day 1) - Hill City 2013
Pitching our tents at KOA Mount Rushmore before going back to Hill City.
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Dakota Pathways: Rails and other Roads
Dakota Pathways: A History was a 20-part series used by Educator's across South Dakota for use in their classrooms. The 14 minute long segments explore some of the history of South Dakota. Rails and other Roads is the first produced in the series.
Transportation
People move. They move to improve their lives. To move, they use whatever means of transportation available. More than 25,000 years ago, prehistoric animals, like the mastodon, and the people who hunted them crossed the land bridge from Asia to Alaska and south into the rest of North America, and even farther to South America. On pre-historic plains, later called South Dakota, ancestors of present-day Native Americans walked to get where they wanted to go.
To find better places to live and hunt, Native Americans had only one transportation option—their feet—until the middle of the 17th century. At that time, Spanish military explorers and missionaries brought with them an animal that would dramatically change life in the Americas. From Spanish missions, Native Americans acquired horses. On horseback, Native Americans could move more quickly and more easily. They could hunt buffaloes across broader ranges, killing more selectively. They could find better places to live, and better ways to fight.
For hundreds of years the horse was the best land transportation technology there was. In 1858, the first non-stop stagecoach trip, from St. Louis to Los Angeles, almost 2600 miles, took 20 days. Two years later, the Pony Express covered 1966 miles, galloping from St. Louis to Sacramento, in 11 days. Horses pulled plows, buggies, barges—everything a human could not. Without this literal horsepower, transportation would have been nearly impossible.
Eventually, though, horses were replaced. From 1862 to 1883, railroad companies built the infrastructure for train travel; soon, train tracks and trains crisscrossed North America, bringing thousands of emigrants to once-remote land. It took 19 years for the Northern Pacific Railroad to complete its system. The expansion of rail transportation coincided with the decline of the buffalo: from an estimated 60 million at the beginning of the century, the gigantic herds had been reduced to 2000 animals.
Like horses, trains were replaced by another transportation innovation: the car. As automobiles improved (and became more affordable), so did roads and highways. The U.S. Highway System led to the Eisenhower Interstate System, further opening up the country. People could move around South Dakota and the nation like never before. As cars and the roads spread, one more innovation soon started to have an impact on how people move.
In the 1930s commercial air service reached most corners of the United States, including South Dakota. Airline passenger traffic volume, the number of miles people travel by plane, increased by 1700 % from 1954 to 2001. More than ever, people are moving. Whether the transportation is planes, trains or automobiles, horses or on foot, it is a vital aspect of daily life.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Black Hills, South Dakota
Over the Memorial Day weekend some friends and I drove from the Denver area to Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota. Here we're approaching the Mount Rushmore National Memorial via the the Grand View Terrace. Although it's an impressive, moving memorial I can see why the Native Americans want their Blak Hills back!
Here's my personal web page about travel:
05-23-2009
Visiting Mitchell Corn Palace, The Best Building in Mitchell, South Dakota, United States
Visiting Mitchell Corn Palace, The Best Building in Mitchell, South Dakota, United States.
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Please watch: Visiting Gilcrease Museum, Art Museum in Tulsa, OKlahoma, United States
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A day in North Dakota's Capital city Thesairs's photos around Bismarck, United States
Preview of Thesairs's blog at TravelPod. Read the full blog here:
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Black Hills Central 2-6-6-2T #110 Mallet steam locomotive climbs 6% grade
Black Hills Central Railroad #110, a 2-6-6-2T, Mallet type steam locomotive puts on a fine show of smoke and steam as it travels through the hills of South Dakota. This rail line has some of the steepest grades in the United States at up to 6%. The #110 was originally built as a logging locomotive in 1928 for the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company. It spent most of it's time in the woods of Washington state.
It was retired in 1968 and later put on display in Heber City, Utah. Then it was sold to the Nevada railroad museum, and later to the Black Hills Central Railroad where it operates today. Sister engine #108, also a 2-6-6-2 logging locomotive is currently under restoration and will become operational likely this Fall. Filmed in August, 2019. More information about the railroad and the rolling stock can be found here
Air and Space Museum.- South Dakota
July 4, 2003
Black Hills Free Attractions | South Dakota
Some free attractions include museums, events, showcases, galleries, parks, plus many more.
Visit for more information on free attractions in the Black Hills area.
Attractions | Things to do | Things to see | Places to go | Black Hills