Last wk the Mrs & I took a vac to western SD and visited Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Bear City. My intent was to keep this totally rr free but did not turn that way–for a day anyway.
Found an abandoned CB&Q branch that ran Edgemont-Deadwood. It now is a walking trail. Don’t think I would want to walk too far–might meet up w/ a bear out doing the same. Does anyone have any history of this line? How did CBQ/BN operate it? When did the trains stop running and when was it officially abandoned?
Took a side trip south to Edgemont. Pop 900. Likely the most lonely isolated crew base on BNSF. Wife had family there from 1800’s into 1920’s. Great and great great parents lived there. Great great grandfather lost an arm in a link & pin switching accident. Local history museum has a rr display. She also found more history of the family. Found the graves at cemetery. We want to return someday and put flowers.
BNSF had 77 engines stored parked. These were in 8800 & 8900 series. This is the afht for Alline crews and a Oak Tree Inn is active for that purpose. Lots of young seniority there. I can see why.
Lots of young seniority on most all carriers - Baby Boomers are retiring and there was a long period of limited hiring during the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s as the carriers went through their pre-Staggers line and facility eliminations and then the post-Staggers plant rationalizations and further line eliminations, buy outs and all the other tactics the carriers used to reduce work force numbers.
I don’t have my book handy on the CB&Q Black Hills branch, but IIRC the last train ran about 1983. The traffic toward the end was coal for the Kirk power plant near Deadwood, and a gravel dealer in Lead. There may have been occasional traffic for the Homestake Mine. A couple of road units brought the train to Deadwood, and the Deadwood switcher would handle the Lead branch. In the steam era, it was the home of a couple of articulateds (I believe the only ones on the CB&Q). I was fortunate to visit the line in 1981. There was a small branch out of Hill City that still has the Black Hills Central tourist train.
Been in South Dakota a few times in my lifetime and can only give that territory/state compliments. Not a lot of railroading going on there but the scenery is fantastic. The eastern portion is prairie, the western part is the Black Hills, and in between are the Badlands. Seen from a small plane the whole state is beautiful because of it’s varying scenery. I speak from experience having been both on the ground in Spearfish and Deadwood and seeing most of the state while flying in a Cessna 182.
Wall Drug in Wall is nothing more than a tourist trap but if you haven’t been there you have missed a huge portion of the local culture. I was there in my early teens and a few years ago had a chance to revisit and take photos.
You haven’t experienced America if you haven’t been in South Dakota. It is closer to Heaven than West Virginia, but in winter be sure to wear your parka. It gets chilly there from the “Alberta Clippers”.
Alas, my only contact with the Dakotas was a whirlwind trip to dissemble radars at (why not) Minot AFB and Grand Forks AFB. I think that trip also included a stop in Kansas - McConnell AFB?.
It is nice country, even if we did not do any sightseeing.
I do recall seeing an amber beacon, probably on a locomotive, in the distance while at Minot.
That’s about right. Everybody passing through has to stop at Wall Drug once, just to wonder why they bothered to put up all those billboards. If you miss Wall Drug, you really haven’t missed much.
I have been in South Dakota, but (sorry, Norris) it was a brief passage, as I was flying from Chicago to Salt Lake CIty many years ago; we passed over Sioux City. I simply did not have the opportunity to get to South Dakota while there were still passenger trains in the state.
Perhaps he thought he meant Rapid City by conflation … Cedar Rapids and Sioux City are both kinda on that great circle route (but any visible part of South Dakota itself is much too far north…)
We drove through South Dakota in early 2016, and I thought it was neat. We wold stop as necessary for fuel and meals, and if there was any sight of freight cars in the distance. We went into the Corn Palace, and were given the tour of Sioux Falls by Norris and wife (thanks again!). They also steered us in the right direction to a treasure trove of freight equipment in Dell Rapids, just north of Sioux Falls.
As for Wall, we were also suckered in by the signs, etc.: we had a great lunch and I still have my little “Free water” plastic cup. We did well at the book division of the store. But my best memory of Wall was the RCPE flat car I found sitting by the elevator mere blocks away from the drug store. It didn’t take too long to discover that it was a cut-down box car (the coat of CNW “Zito” yellow gave it away), but I was able to narrow things down to the Rock Island series in which it originated! That bit of sleuthing made the day for me.
Your well-deserved pride in your detective work reminds me of my college days. Writing papers on this, that and the other thing was tedious at times but the research before the actual writing was the one part of the assignment that I really enjoyed.
It wasn’t either one–the plane passed over the tip of South Dakota that must have been trying to escape the cold weather. My apologies to all who are in the know as to what is where.
In the late 70’s the trucking firm my father drove for was starting to haul coal from Gillette Wyoming area mines to the power plant in Deadwood. I believe that was the beginning of the end of hauling coal in by train.
The trail is used a lot during tourist season. Some parts are very scenic. There is a place to rent bikes, ride downhill for a long time and then get a ride back to the beginning.