 Train on the Black Hills and Fort Pierre Railroad in 1890 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Lead, South Dakota |
| Locale | Black Hills, South Dakota |
| Dates of operation | 1882–1930 |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 3 ft (914 mm) |
| Length | 53.798 miles (86.579 km) |
The Black Hills and Fort Pierre Railroad (BH&FP) was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge[1] railroad in the Black Hills of the U.S. state of South Dakota. It was created by the Homestake Mining Company and initially ran from Lead to Calcite and Piedmont by way of Elk Creek. An alternate route was established to Piedmont and Calcite by way of Nemo and Stagebarn Canyon after numerous washouts made the Elk Creek route unviable. There was also a branch from the Nemo line connecting Este with a logging camp at Merritt. The railroad had 6.180 miles (9.946 km) of dual gauge track (with 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge trackage) and another 47.618 miles (76.634 km) of 3 ft (914 mm) track; the total amount of track was 53.798 miles (86.579 km).[2][3]
- ^ Railroad Line Forums - Narrow Gauge to the Black Hills Boom Towns Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Strouse (1928).
- ^ "South Dakota's Railroads: An Historic Context" (PDF). South Dakota State Historical Society. South Dakota Historic Preservation Office. December 2007 [First published 1998]. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-11-11. Retrieved January 20, 2014.