The Last Railroad in the Black Hills: A Railfanning Documentary | Black Hills Central's 1880 Train

The Black Hills of South Dakota was once home to hundreds of miles of railroad track. Big mainline roads Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and Chicago and Northwestern both built track into the mountains, while smaller railroads (including the Deadwood Central, a narrow gauge operation) were built to support mining and logging operations. Black Hills railroad lines didn't last long, with most were abandoned by the 1950s. The longest holdout was the CB&Q's Highline, which ran from Edgemont to Deadwood, and was kept in service solely to deliver coal to the Kirk power plant near Lead up until the 1980s. Burlington Northern abandoned the Highline between 1983 and 1986, ending a century-long legacy of freight railroading in the Black Hills. The track was razed and the grading turned into a Rails to Trails project known as the George S. Mikkelson trail. Today, only 10 miles of railroad track remain of several hundred. The Hill City to Keystone branch of the Burlington Route's Highline survives thanks to the Black Hills Central, a tourist railroad founded in 1957. The Black Hills Central is recognized as the oldest continuously operating standard gauge excursion train in the world, and the last Railroad to operate in the Black Hills. It runs the "1880 Train" from Hill City to Keystone several times a day during the summer season. Due to the mountainous terrain, the average speed is 10 miles an hour, and the 20-mile round trip takes a little over 2 hours. In this video, I chase the train along its daily runs, and share my experience of riding the train.