You will need to be at the train depot a little before 10 AM to get your tickets for the one way train ride to Hill City. The train boards at 10:00 AM and leaves at 10:15 AM, arriving in Hill City at approximately 11:15 PM. The 1880 Train ride is a one-hour, narrated 10-mile 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 their steam engines is close to 100 years old!

We have lunch at any one of the restaurants listed below in Hill City. Afterwards you have time to visit the shops, or go to the Black Hills Natural History Museum (with awesome dinosaur fossils), or visit the new South Dakota Train Museum by the depot. Then we depart for Rapid City. If you desire we can stop at any or all of the three winery tasting rooms outside Hill City on the way back. We return to your hotel via Highway 16 or past Pactola Lake and down Highway 44. It is a relaxing and fun day in both towns with a soothing and scenic train ride in between.