Chicago IL to Rapid City SD to San Francisco

[railiner]

Related to this topic, I watched an interesting documentary on PBS last night about the construction of the Mt. Rushmore monument, which was completed in the early 40's. Mention was made of the fact that the builder traveled to Rapid City, SD by train during the 30's, and I was wondering which railroad(s) that might have been. Anyone know?

The C&NW had the most routes into Rapid City, from the North, South, and East;, the MILW also came in from the East. The CB&Q came within about 20 miles (west), on its Deadwood branch. I agree that the last passenger service was most likely on the Northwestern (Dakota 400?), around 1960. The 'Q' train enroute from Nebraska to Billings, Montana, went thru Edgemont, SD, and lasted until 1969.

 

[railiner]

As far as whether or not Northwest Orient flew from Midway to Rapid City in 1959.....

I don't have a timetable handy, but back in that era, the "trunk line" airlines, of which Northwest was one of, all had a certain part of the country that they provided extensive service in Many of them had just begun to acquire their first jet aircraft, and still primarily used propliners, both 2 and 4 engine types. It is amazing the level of local services they still performed back then, before 'giving' them to regional airlines.

 

[PaulM]

Having seen the Alps, I'm not sure any mountain scenery in the US is better. I've not seen the Rockies, though, and I know Oregon and Washington State definitely have some beautiful mountains.

For me, it depends on whether you are viewing the mountains from a distance or up close. From a distance, I'll take the Rockies. But if you look closely, they are like a dessert with some trees, whereas the Alps are wet and green, more like the western slope of the Cascades.

Also, a comment about US vs. European trains. Western Europe really doesn't have anything comparable to our western trains. Their overnight trains have to run slow so that they depart the origin and arrive at the destination at reasonable hours. Even so, you get on, go to sleep, wake up, and get off. Very convenient, but no one would accuse them of being land cruises.

 

[crescent2]

I've never spent an overnight on a European train. I was referring to on-time performance, frequency, availability, etc. Except for possibly the NEC, European trains are in a different league from Amtrak. Many understandable reasons for that, of course.

I spent three weeks in Germany and Austria on one trip. My favorite single part of the trip was taking a train to Zell Am See. Just wonderful! :wub: The ICE was also cool. LOL

Hope the OP gives us a trip report!