We are all about people, places and trains. Railroads influenced SD and America in many ways. Now on display in Hill City next to the venerable 1880 Train, rail memorabilia collections, 75 ft "TimeRail" mural, model trains, interactive displays, and staff experience provide visitors with an understanding of their relationship with history and the current role of railroads.Museums like this connect us to everything we know— and to what we have yet to learn— reminding us of times, places and things, and of innovations that have shaped our past and present, and will shape our future.Americans have always had a love for railroads—there is nothing else like them. The building of the American railroads was a special combination of steel, timber, and sweat which linked our nation from the Atlantic to the Pacific. As explorers, entrepreneurs, and immigrants from across the world seeking freedom and opportunity, the railroads and our nation grew up together.South Dakota’s unique landscape spawned one of the most unusual and complex railroad histories in our nation; a history that has helped define us as a people and as a state. The rails have carried our hopes, our dreams, our riches, our bounty, our cultural treasures, and our families from past to present.
