Here we are in 2018 — a date that would have sounded preposterous in 1880. And yet, we can still experience a bit of 1880 technology today in of all places, South Dakota! There you can take a two-hour ride on a steam-engine train from Hill City to Keystone and back.
Anyone who loves trains can’t help but get excited as the steam engine chugs into the station. Steam pipes out of the smokestack and the conductor toots the horn. Everyone with a ticket eagerly awaits its arrival. Once everyone was seated, we heard the conductor boom, “All Aboard!” I’d always thought that was a warning that this was your last chance to board, but no. It’s the signal that everyone is aboard and the train is ready to leave.
There are two types of cars to choose from: antique-looking cars with windows or open-air seating that really lets you experience the surroundings as you chug through the Black Hills countryside.
The trains follow the original route of the 1880’s Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. This is the same route that was used between the mines and the mills and as you travel, you can see a few defunct mine entrances as you pass.
The Black Hills Central Railroad is the oldest continuously operating tour railroad in the nation and operates three steam and two diesel engines. A narrated recording and the passing conductors provide plenty of historical facts as you slowly roam along the tracks.
What interested me most (since I knew virtually nothing about trains) was what I learned about the whistle. Every time the train goes through a railroad crossing, the conductor blasts Morse code for “Q”: Long-long-short-long. It’s a tradition carried over to signify that ‘the Queen is coming.’
The other fascinating part of the ride to me was watching all the people that stopped and got out of their cars at the railroad crossings to wave and take pictures. We saw one truck with a man and boy at nearly every stop — which amounted to 20 stops along the curvy Highway 323 that winds from Hill City to Keystone. They were racing ahead to each crossing to see the train. Apparently this is not uncommon. It definitely gave some validity to the stereotypical concept that little boys love trains.
How about you? Are you a train enthusiast?
Browsing The Atlas 
I am a lover of trains and was even a little giddy to get on one recently at an amusement park (I know my dorky is showing – ha!). Happy Day – Enjoy 🙂
No dorky showing as far as I’m concerned! Train rides are hypnotic. I do the amusement park train rides, too.
That sounds neat! Interesting about what the whistle interpretation is.
Yes. I love learning little facts like this.
I always wanted to be an engineer. It was only after college that I realized I wouldn’t be driving trains… Seriously, I love trains and always have. I spent hours as a kid with my model railroad.
Mom lives in Quincy. I never realized that the Quincy was a train terminus.
I actually have a brother-in-law who is a train engineer. The stories he tells!
I love this! Trains are such a romantic mode of transport. And what a great way to go back in time and see some beautiful scenery.
It was interesting. I wish there had been more remnants of the old mining sites, but the landscape there is so pretty that I wasn’t missing out on anything.
It was really fun to ride on an antique train! We had one in Calgary that goes around the heritage park – just to showcase to visitors what it was like back in the days. All the cool little details you learned are so fascinating!
I enjoy little facts like this so much more than the detailed history. That tells you how my brain works. I’m sure they told me the entire history, but trivial facts are the pieces that stuck with me. 😉
I’ve always found old trains fascinating, and your train ride through the Black Hills looks like a perfect way to experience what it would have been like to travel in South Dakota in the 19th century — as well as to see some beautiful countryside.
It’s nice to take a slow train ride so everything isn’t flashing past too quickly.
There’s an element of romance in climbing on an old steam train, an element of lost history, Juliann, which you captured. I loved the idea of the man and his son rating ahead of the train to meet it at all of the crossings. Two years ago I did a Polar Express ride on a steam train in Connecticut. Some fun! –Curt
Lovely. Just needs a bit of Doris Day as entertainment along the way. For some I love old railway architecture – traces of old tracks, stations, buildings, bridges. Stacks to be found throughout the British Isles of course.
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
MOST DEFINITELY–WHY DO YOU SUPPOSE I FOCUSED IN ON THIS POST…TO REBLOG? WOO-WOO!
YOU FORGOT—there was a big “boy” driving the pickup!!
You??
I’m afraid not. But the little boy had a Daddy driving the truck, didn’t he? 🙂