1880 Train

Railroads once ran some 400 miles through the Black Hills of South Dakota, carrying ore and timber out of the mining camps. Ten of them are left. They form the old Burlington branch from Hill City to Keystone, and since 1957 a steam train has carried visitors through these hills: the 1880 Train, so named by its founder because he wanted it to feel like a ride in the great railroad boom of the 1880s.

The line climbs out of Hill City up Tin Mill Hill, a four per cent grade, then follows Battle Creek down a granite canyon through the Black Hills National Forest to Keystone, the town below Mount Rushmore. It takes an hour each way at about ten miles an hour, with a narrator telling the story of the mines and camps along the way. You can start from either end, turn straight round after a 15-minute stop, or stay in the other town and come back on a later train.

In summer the train is pulled by No. 108 or No. 110, articulated Mallet tank engines built in the 1920s for the logging railroads of the Pacific Northwest, behind wooden coaches, several of them built in 1913 for an interurban line in Oregon. Hill City is about 26 miles from Rapid City.

The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy built its High Line north through the Black Hills from Edgemont to Deadwood, and a branch from Hill City to Keystone to serve the gold, tin, silver and tungsten mines of the central hills; it reached Keystone in 1900. By the 1950s steam had all but gone from American railroads, and two enthusiasts, William Heckman and Robert Freer, set out to keep "at least one working steam railroad" running. On 18 August 1957 the first train of the Black Hills Central Railroad left the Burlington's Hill City depot and climbed Tin Mill Hill to Oblivion, a ghost town halfway along the branch. It ran on narrow gauge, on a third rail laid inside the standard-gauge track; the railroad changed to standard gauge in 1964.

The flood of June 1972 washed out the bridges over Battle Creek, and until 2001 the trains stopped about a mile short of Keystone. In 1986 the Burlington Northern abandoned the High Line through Hill City, which became the Mickelson Trail, and left the Black Hills Central on its own. In 2001 the bridges were rebuilt, and the trains run into Keystone again.

The ride

Every trip starts at either depot. Pick up your tickets at the counter at least 30 minutes before departure: seats are assigned, two to a bench, and any two benches can be turned to face each other. From Hill City the engine works flat out up Tin Mill Hill, then the line passes the ghost town of Addie Camp and comes out into Palmer Gulch, with Black Elk Peak, the highest point in South Dakota, to the south. It runs down Battle Creek under granite cliffs and through deep rock cuts, within a mile of Mount Rushmore, though the faces are never in view. Watch for white-tailed and mule deer, wild turkeys and woodchucks along the track.

The enclosed cars run all season, with windows that open. From about mid-June to Labor Day the train also carries the open-sided observation cars Redfern, Mystic and Harney Canyon, roofed and with wooden seats. The car Blue Bird, built in 2006, has a wheelchair lift and space for two wheelchairs. There are no toilets on board; both depots have them.

The engines

The two big engines are Baldwin 2-6-6-2T Mallets, articulated tank engines that use their steam twice and can take seven coaches up the grades where the smaller engines manage four. No. 110 was built in 1928 for the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, came to Hill City on four trucks in 1999 and has worked here since 2001; No. 108, built in 1926 for the Potlatch Lumber Company, joined it in 2020. Tell them apart by the blue water tank over the boiler: No. 108's is in one piece, No. 110's in two halves. Both were built as oil-burners and still burn recycled motor oil, which throws out no embers to set the forest alight. The smaller No. 104, a Baldwin 2-6-2 tank engine of 1926, is kept in working order, and No. 7 of 1919, which appeared in Gunsmoke, stands on display in Hill City.

Trains leave from both ends of the line: the Hill City depot, 222 Railroad Avenue, and the Keystone depot, 103 Winter Street. Each run takes about an hour, and the same train comes straight back after a 15-minute stop. The season runs from mid-May to mid-October, with up to four round trips a day at the height of summer. The departure times stay the same all season; what changes is how many of them run:

In October 2026 the 11:30 from Hill City and the 12:45 from Keystone run every day until 18 October, the last day of the season, and the 09:00 and 10:15 run as well on 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 17 and 18 October. In summer the 17:00 from Hill City on Sundays is the Old West Shootout train, which stops halfway for a staged gunfight.

From 25 November to 24 December the Holiday Express runs on selected days from Hill City only, at 11:00, 12:45, 14:30 and 16:15: an hour's round trip to the North Pole behind diesel No. 63, with Santa boarding for the ride back. The Winter Express follows on 26 and 27 December.

Good to know:

• Book ahead in summer: seats are assigned, and tickets are for a set departure.
• To stop over in the other town, book a later train back. Keystone's street parking is limited to three hours; Hill City's car park is free.
• Steam hauls every summer departure; the diesel stands in only if a steam engine is out of service.

Departures as of October 2026, from the railroad's booking engine; the summer pattern is from its published 2025 schedule. Confirm before travelling on 1880train.com (opens in a new tab).

A round trip costs $43 for an adult and $23 for a child aged 2 to 12, and a one-way ride $38 and $21; children under 2 ride free on a lap. The round trip with a boxed lunch, on the 11:30 from Hill City only, is $60 and $40. Sales tax is added at checkout. Seats are assigned when you book, two to a bench, and you can buy the seat beside you if you would rather not share.

Collect your tickets at the depot you leave from, at least 30 minutes before departure; an emailed confirmation is not a ticket. The Holiday Express costs $50 for an adult and $33 for a child, and the Old West Shootout train $53 and $33. Fares checked October 2026 at 1880train.com (opens in a new tab); US dollars.

No rail pass covers the 1880 Train. The Black Hills Central is a private heritage railroad that sells its own tickets, and Interrail and Eurail do not apply anywhere in the United States.

The railroad's own reductions are the child fare, free travel for children under 2 on a lap, and group rates for parties of 20 or more. A train ticket also earns the reduced admission at the South Dakota State Railroad Museum next to the Hill City depot: $7 instead of $9 for an adult.

Checked October 2026 against 1880train.com (opens in a new tab) and sdsrm.com (opens in a new tab).

Hill City and Keystone sit in the middle of the Black Hills, and most of what draws people here is a short drive from either depot. Mount Rushmore is just above Keystone; Custer State Park, Sylvan Lake and the trail to Black Elk Peak lie to the south, and Jewel Cave beyond the town of Custer to the south-west.

Hill City and Keystone both have hotels, motels and cabins, and Rapid City, 26 miles from Hill City, has the widest choice. Book ahead for summer: some places are open only from spring to autumn, and the Alpine Inn takes bookings no more than four months ahead.

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