Sunday, September 14, 2014

three rail tracks in Lead, South Dakota


With a train visible on each, respectively a mine train (22" or 559 mm gauge), a Chicago & North Western and a trolley, no doubt specially posed for the camera. According to wikipedia, in 1902, the track of the Deadwood Central Railroad (which had a total length of 15.78 miles or 25.4 km) between Lead and Deadwood was electrified and passenger service was provided with 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge interurban cars. Between Pluma and Deadwood, the tracks were shared with the standard gauge Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, with a third rail laid to make the track dual gauge. This service was abandoned in 1924 due to operating losses and deterioration of equipment.

Despite the name, Lead was founded on gold mining and a massive mine, Homestake, operated until January 2002.  The whole town was put on the national register of historic places in 1974.

1 comment:

ChrisW said...

Lead, Soth Dakota is pronounced "Leed", comes from the mining term refering to an offshoot or lead in a vein, not the mineral Lead pronounced "led".

ChrisW