We celebrated Terry's homecoming after his first week back to work after sabbatical by riding the 1880 train. The railroad celebrated it's 60th anniversary on Friday, August 18, 2017 by giving free train rides and entrance to its museum to SD residents.
Cited from their website, he 1880 train is "a two-hour, narrated 20-mile round trip between Hill City and Keystone. Passengers view vistas of Harney Peak, mining encampments and participate in good old-fashioned fun. Trains follow the original route of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad laid down in the late 1880s to service the mines and mills between Hill City and Keystone. The Black Hills Central Railroad is the oldest continuously operating tour railroad in the nation and operates three steam and two diesel engines throughout the season. One of our steam engines is close to 100 years old!"
We randomly found out about the special deal when Terry read the Journal paper his dad gave him the Sunday before. Sometimes he doesn't get around to reading it but thankfully he did that day!
They run the train all day long but the only remaining time was 7am. We live 30 minutes from Hill City and had to be there even earlier to pick up tickets and get in line so we arrived at 615!
We got up at the crack of dawn and were pretty darn tired that afternoon. I think we took naps later. That is why the sun isn't up properly yet. Oh, and a Diesel engine pulled us that morning since it takes the steam engines four hours to warm up.
Waiting in line...
Everyone was so friendly, they even gave away complimentary cookies!
All aboard and eating our cookies.
We opted for a closed train coach for two reasons; one, because it was cold out, and two, because the only memories I have of riding this train as a little kid were tons and tons of soot from the steam engine everywhere, especially in my hair and face.
We chose to start from Hill City, ride down to Keystone, and back up again. I had a good view to the south of Harney Peak, or Black Elk Peak as we're supposed to call it now.
I was actually very pleased with the time we had to take the train because there was a lot more wildlife present. Check out that derpy deer. Ha ha ha!
And another one shortly thereafter.
We took a lot of pictures on the way down to Keystone and less on the way back up. It was such fun!
This picture looks like nothing, but it's actually Camp Judson where we do our Fall Retreats every fall. We play games in this field next to the rail road every year!
I was the only one who got off the train in Keystone to use the ladies room thanks to that coffee I drank. I had to pee so bad the entire time! Ha! I was much more comfortable on the way back up.
We switched up our seating for the ride back to Hill City. Me and Ez swapped with Noah and Evie. He's so cute!
Across the aisle.
The weather had warmed up so we put our windows down. Looking towards the front of the train.
The back of the train behind us.
Ezra stuck his head out to watch.
He liked listening to the train whistle when we crossed the road.
The conductors came down the aisle collecting tickets and told Ezra to put his head back in.
I thought the ceiling was really pretty.
As soon as the guys were gone Samuel and Ezra proceeded to stick their heads back out.
It was so beautiful.
Some smoke from the diesel.
An old house and shed.
Another old house and root cellar. I can't remember the history to all these little places, but they were from the 1800's.
Back to Hill City. The return journey went way too quickly.
We were surprised when we disembarked to see a motorcycle arriving at precisely the same time. We were even more surprised to discover that it was my dad!
He was on his way out for a camping trip and thought he'd stop by. Talk about perfect timing!
The next train got to take a steam engine.
It was really such a fun time. We never would have been able to afford a ride otherwise.
We didn't quite know what to do afterwards. We had brought lunch in case we wanted to go for a hike, but we ended up wandering around the little play area. Then we went in that pink, reddish coach behind there.
This was an original caboose from 1906!
Small sleeping quarters though. Or maybe for baggage?
More playing.
There goes the sooty steam engine with its next load.
Next we went into the museum.
Cute little antique stove inside that red train.
The coolest part was this huge model train.
Ezra coming out of the red train.
All the historical photos and artifacts were neat.
There was a very large timeline along half the room.
Model train downtown.
We had to give those boys a leg up so they could see.
I hope Samuel didn't break their old typewriter, but it's clearly supposed to be touched.
Ezra's legs were tired so Daddy came to the rescue, just like in Zion, and shortly thereafter we were done.
I discovered this dinosaur in the down town. Ha! We left the museum, had lunch in the van, and decided just to go home since we were so tired. Nap time!
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