Back from the Black Hills!

[Nighthawk]

Hey all! Some of you may have noticed that I dropped the board for the last week. I took the family to South Dakota- and Mt. Rushmore- for the week. I come home with a rather entertaining story.

Do any of you know what train chasing is? It's a hobby that my parents and I have had for my entire life. What you do is find a railroad with some sort of significant history, or a railroad with rolling stock with significant history, you take a ride on the train, and then you get in your car and follow the train on it's route, taking pictures and video and just generally having a great time with whomever is nuts enough to go with you. This time around, it was my mom, my dad, my daughter and myself. Mom was driving, Dad was filming, I was photographing, and my daughter was looking pretty. So here's the kilt related part of the story- I went on the chase dressed like this:



The engine in the background is the one we were chasing. We started the chase at the Keystone, SD end of the line and chased the train to Hill City, SD. I climbed on various hillsides at the different locations we had scouted out. I was very close to the train. We had about 25 locations to take pictures from. When we got into the Hill City station, we stopped into the depot to use the facilities and look around the gift shop to kill time waiting for the chase on the return trip to Keystone, and while we were there, I had several people come up to me and say that I was the most interesting part of the trip for them! I actually had several families who's kids wanted to get their picture taken with me! I had no idea the stir I would cause, until I started talking to these people! Kids asking me if I was a pirate, grownups saying that me on the hillside with them on the train enhanced the atmosphere... At first I thought it was odd, and then I started seeing things from their perspectives. So all in all, this was the most unique chase I have ever taken part in. I'm off to Georgetown, Co tomorrow to see what kind of havoc I can stir there. So here are my two favorite pics from this weekend's chase, showing how I may have "enhanced" the atmosphere.

This one is from a cutaway in the mountain side that I climbed, so I was actually above the train at the edge of a manmade cliff:



This one is in front of the original station along that stretch of the line. It's supposed to be restored- eventually. I was standing on the deck.



Now off to Georgetown!!

[12stones]

Sounds like a great experience. Thanks for sharing the stories and pics.

[turpin]

A very unique story. I can imagine looking out at the hillsode and seeing you.

[Riverkilt]

Wow! I've been participating in a sport that I didn't know was a sport or that it had a name. Sounds like great fun.

If you're ever up in rezlands you can play with the Black Mesa and Lake Powell line. Sorry, can't be ridden though. Its the coal train from the mines on Black Mesa, Arizona to the Navajo Generating Station coal fired plant near Page. Runs about 90 miles across the rez. Lots of good photo spots.



And thanks for the pics. My maternal grandfather was a cattleman of sorts up in Philip and Ft. Pierre, S.D. in the late 1800s

Ron

[DTrain]

I bet the engineer got a kick out of seeing you. Can you imagine "Look, there's another kilted guy along the route. . . . again, and again, and again." Sounds like a lot of fun.

[Nighthawk]

Wow! I've been participating in a sport that I didn't know was a sport or that it had a name. Sounds like great fun.

If you're ever up in rezlands you can play with the Black Mesa and Lake Powell line. Sorry, can't be ridden though. Its the coal train from the mines on Black Mesa, Arizona to the Navajo Generating Station coal fired plant near Page. Runs about 90 miles across the rez. Lots of good photo spots.



And thanks for the pics. My maternal grandfather was a cattleman of sorts up in Philip and Ft. Pierre, S.D. in the late 1800s

Ron

That's a nice one! Thanks for the tip! I may have to make plans for a weekend there! I've never actually seen an electric engine in service, aside from cable cars.

Here's one of my favorites from New Mexico:



It's from the Cumbres & Toltec line. My dad helped restore it in the early 1970's. I literally learned how to walk on this line.

Edit: I just did a TrainWeb search for your railroad, and here's what I found! http://www.trainweb.org/southwestsho...lp.html#PHOTOS There are some great pictures there!

[Jerick]

Sounds like you had great fun and now I have this strange urge to ride a train...

[Chrissss]

Love the pics of that articulated tank loco... I'm a steam buff, myself, and have one of those loco's in brass HO scale.

Chris...

[sharpdressedscot]

I've ridden a train a few times in my life, once or twice for recreation and a few other times as travel.

Nighthawk, those boots really suit your saffron kilt.

[Riverkilt]

Nighthawk,

Come on down! But you'll need more than a weekend. This area is lousy with restored train runs. Guessing you've found True West Magazine - lots of ads for them trains in that magazine and wasn't too long ago they had a special trains issue with lots of info. Hopefully, your local librarian can find it.

Sad thing about the BM&LP is that its like 50,000 volts and there are warning signs at the crossings. But the power is up above. That doesn't keep the occasional drunk from passing out on the tracks and getting whacked by the train. Sad stuff, particularly for the engineers.

I think the next closest train is down in the Verde Valley. Then there are some down around Tucson.

Cumbres is on my list. Have a coworker who's a D&RG junkie. Always lurking for pics between Durango and Silverton then selling them at art shows.

When I was a boy my father was offered an opportunity to move to Maui and help his best friend restore the Sugar Train...he passed due to the perceived risk. Got to see what I missed last month. Kinda sad.

Ron