Large Scale Central

Black Hills Central #110

Prototypes
#1

I was in town in Keystone over the weekend and spotted BHC 110 getting a drink.

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I took a picture of the nose shield as it is painted blue, unlike the normal Baldwin shields. I have mad e a model of this loco out of the Bachmann 2-6-6-2T as she looked last year, when the headlight was down on the front deck. They moved it back up to on top of the smokebox this past winter which is the original place of the headlight.

The BHC had to move the headlight down on the deck because the US-DOT required them to put ditch lights on the locomotive since it crosses roads. The BHC didn’t think ditchlights on a steam locomotive looked that authentic. The compromise was moving the headlight to the lower deck. I’m not sure what changed over the past winter.

A little history, 110 was originally Weyerhauser 110 of Vail, WA. BHC purchased it in 1999 and restored it back to working order. It has been operating on the line since 2001. It is the only mallet of its kind in operation in the world.

#2

What an awesome locomotive! Beautiful!

That tiny water tower is kind of silly though. It can’t possibly hold enough water to fill even one of those side tanks.

#3

Your right it doesn’t. I was told that it is really for show. It really filled like a water column. The tower just looks better, afterall it is a tourist railroad.

#4

I’m not sure who told you that, but that’s not altogether true. Yes, it does not fill 110’s tanks to the tippy top, but it does give us enough water to get us back to Hill City…we go through a lot of water climbing over Tin Mill and to Oblivion! Before we put up the tank, we had to fill up the tanks using a hose to the north of the track (which took quite a bit of time.) But it does provide quite a bit of water, and it does actually hold water in it.

Hope this clears some things up,

CJLM

#5

That loco is a beauty and truly one of a kind.
Where is keystone?

#6

Todd,

Keystone is in the Black Hills of South Dakota, in the Southwest corner. It’s a beautiful area to visit. It’s known mostly for Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial, but it has a rich railroad history, including quite a bit of narrow gauge history. In Lead, which is about an hour North of Keystone and Hill City (Hill City is where the BHC is based out of) there is a restaurant that is in an old narrow gauge roundhouse. The Burlington had a branch line from Edgemont, South Dakota that ran up to Deadwood, but at Hill City, the line branched off on a ten mile spur to Keystone, where many mines were located. The line from Edgemont to Deadwood is now a biking trail (the Michelson Trail) but the spur to Keystone is now the Black Hills Central Railroad.

#7

Cool. Something else to do when (or if) I ever go to Sturgis.

#8

Thanks for the clarification Chase. I cant remember who was telling me that, but it don’t matter now.