Black Hills Central Railroad

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Baldwin 2-6-2T #104 steaming out of Keystone in 2001. This section was damaged by a flood in 1972.

The Black Hills Central Railroad (AAR reporting marks BHCR) is a heritage railroad that operates in South Dakota.

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.^[1]

In 1957, the Black Hills Central Railroad began operating a tourist passenger excursion train service on this line. In 1972, a flood destroyed the last mile of the Burlington Northern/Black Hills Central line in Keystone, which was later restored in 2001.^[2]

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.

[edit] Preserved equipment

The BHCR operates rare, well-preserved, and operational steam locomotives:

# 7, Baldwin 2-6-2, built 1919
#103, Baldwin 2-6-2, built 1926
#104, Baldwin 2-6-2T tank locomotive (pictured), built 1926
#110, Baldwin 2-6-6-2T, built 1928, the last operating model of its type
#6657, Whitcomb Locomotive Works 80DE5, built 1943

The Black Hills Central Railroad also has a diesel locomotive on its engine roster:

#63, EMD GP9, formerly Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O)

[edit] References

^ Robert, Hayes. A Thumbnail History of Keystone. Retrieved on 2007-05-22.
^ Rick W. Mills, "A Time Line of Black Hills Railroads", Black Hills Visitor Magazine

[edit] External links

Black Hills Central Railroad ("The 1880 Train") official website

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