Otto Perry made frequent stops to the Black Hills as a railroad photographer, and he captured the best images of the line. The last era of the line was from 1933 to 1947 when #55 and #7 were used for operations. A pair of 2-6-2's were used previously. Additionally, the line had a railbus and a small fleet of passenger cars. As for all those freight cars? Most of them were owned by the CBQ, Milwaukee Road, or the CNW railroads.
The digital copies shown are low resolution, meaning that they cannot be used in lieu of purchasing copied images from the Denver Public Library Archives. These copies can be used for reference, personal, or non commercial use, but citation must be given to the Denver Public Library. Please respect these laws.
Anyways, let's dive into the photos:
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| Denver Public Library, Otto Perry Collection, OP-14541 |
June 11th, 1938 must have been a fine summer day as RCBH&W Engine 55, a 2-6-0, is westbound out of Rapid City for Mystic. Rapid City on this day is much smaller than the current population. Based on the surrounding terrain, this appears to be on the flood plain of Rapid Creek outside the mouth of Rapid Canyon, located about 4-5 miles west of Downtown Rapid City.
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| Denver Public Library, Otto Perry Collection, OP-14540 |
Taken a few years earlier on September 4th, 1933, Number 55 is changing cars at the yard in Mystic. Next to the engine is a small shed used for tools. Behind the engine is the Mystic Depot which was used by both the RCBH&W and the CB&Q railroads. In the far background are some buildings of Mystic.
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| Denver Public Library, Otto Perry Collection, OP-14542 |
Taken August 2nd of 1947, the RCBH&W has a limited number of days left. By the end of the year, operations will close. But Engine 55 doesn't look like a run down piece of equipment, more attachments have been added to here and stills seems to be operationally sound. Counting the tracks, the yard appears to be 3 tracks wide.
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| Denver Public Library, Otto Perry Collection, OP-14543 |
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September 7th, 1935. The Crouch Line owned and operated a very unique piece of railroad equipment, a Fairbanks-Morse railbus. This was used to replace the passenger trains that required a full train crew and a steam locomotive to operate. However, this car was likely used in conjunction with the passenger trains, making local stops along the 36 mile route. Photo taken along Jackson Blvd outside Rapid City (now within city limits on the west end of town). Notice the unique trailer car that was pulled behind for extra passengers.
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| Denver Public Library, Otto Perry Collection, OP-14538 |
Otto Perry took advantage of Jackson Blvd's position of being right next to the railroad tracks on the south side. This gave excellent sunlight to brighten his subjects. Here we see RCBH&W's other steam locomotive on September 2nd, 1935. A very unique locomotive known as a Heisler engine. Rather than using rods, this was a geared locomotive that used two pistons angled inwards at a 45 degree angle to drive a crankshaft. The result was much higher pulling power on steep grades and a higher top speed than other geared locomotives. This train would most likely go about 15 miles per hour. The long line of flat cars suggest that as of 1935 there are still multiple sawmills in operation on the line.
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| Denver Public Library, Otto Perry Collection, OP-14544 |
Taken September 2nd, 1947, Combination car #72 is near the end of it's career on the line. Once part of a small fleet of passenger cars, #72 is likely one of the few remaining on the line. By the end of the year she will be retired from service along with all the other equipment as the railway closes for good. Thousands have rode on this one car, certainly a few hundred of those people stayed in the Black Hills, this being the chariot that brought them to this sacred place.
Sources:
Denver Public Library Digital Collections, Otto Perry Collection, Rapid City Black Hills and Western Railroad. Link:
http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/search/collection/p15330coll14!p15330coll21!p15330coll22/searchterm/Perry%20Otto%201894-1970!Rapid%20City%20Black%20Hills%20and%20Western/field/creato!all/mode/all!all/conn/and!and/order/nosort/ad/asc
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