Frequently Asked Questions :: 1880 Train :: 2024 Season

What is the 1880 Train? It 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 locomotives is more than 100 years old! Why is the railroad called the “1880 Train?” In 1957, the 1880 Train was started by a man named William Heckman. He believed "there should be one working steam railroad, for boys of all ages who share America's fondness for the rapidly vanishing steam locomotive." He wanted a railroad that was reminiscent of one from the 1880s. The name stuck, and the 1880 Train has been chugging through the Black Hills...