Trains disappeared from the Black Hills of South Dakota back in the 70's and 80's, with only the 1880 Train remaining for tourist's to ride on and learn from. However, life continues on outside of the Hills. The City of Rapid City still has a branch line of the Dakota Minnesota & Eastern serving the community and the industries inside Rapid City. On the other side of the hills, there is one of the busiest mainlines in the country. The BNSF is one of the largest operating railroads in modern day, and this mainline serves one purpose, supply America's power plants with coal. Every day, dozens of unit trains roll along the double mainline, some trains with as many as 5 engines and 200+ hopper cars. Needless to say, this line is great for train spotting. A train comes by almost every hour, and sometimes every few minutes. The portion of the line near the hills runs from Crawford Nebraska, with it's famous twin horseshoe curves to get down into the basin of northwestern Nebraska, all the way to Newcastle, WY, where the Trains traverse a portion of the Wyoming Black Hills before breaking off to head up the northern Powder River basin and into hte vast coal fields of Wyoming, North Dakota, and Montana. Below is a set of photos shot from a ranch near Crawford, NE:
Along with trains, the highspeed mainline also needs to be serviced constantly, and so track repair equipment, or maintenance of way, is often parked on sidings until needed. Although stationary, this equipment is both privately owned by the railroad and unsafe, so please do not approach if seeing this equipment. If possible, stick with the roads outside the right of way.
Another great place for watching trains is in Newcastle, NE. An overpass above the tracks gives photographers a unique view of the small rail yard and oil facilities in town. Besides that, there is also a lumber mill in town, with cars loaded with wood chips headed off to be disposed of.
