Los Angeles bound "QLA" train, Burlington Northern Extra 6671 West, passing through the town of Carrier. The train was pulled by SD45's #6671, #6691 and #6661 (ex-Frisco #922, #943 and #912), and trailed by Santa Fe way-car #999424.

I barely had time to get this one shot. As I was driving through the town, I heard the train blowing its horns east of the highway 132 crossing. I pulled off the road, stopped, grabbed my Pentax and jump out just in time to take the photograph as the train crossed the street. While I preferred shooting with Kodachrome 64, it was one of the few times I had Kodacolor 400 loaded in the camera. Remember, this was pre-digital and you had to work with whatever film you had loaded in the camera.

In 1963, the Frisco and Santa Fe agreed to a daily run-through train between Birmingham and Los Angeles. Originally the Frisco routed the train from Tulsa to Quannah, Texas. From there the train ran over the Frisco controlled Quannah, Acme & Pacific Railway to the Santa Fe interchange at Floydada. It was from this connection the westward train received it's legendary symbol "QLA" for Quannah-Los Angeles. In 1974, the train began running over the shorter route from Tulsa to the Santa Fe mainline at Avard. The last train to carry the symbol "QLA" ran on 31 December, 1984. Today, the BNSF continues to operate their trains between Birmingham and Los Angeles via this route.