| By: | Nathan Bailey |
| Dates: | 11/6/1981 - 12/31/1988 |
| Album Info: | L&A (of the KCS Lines) and Santa Fe started run-through service that connected at Dallas in November 1981. L&A and Santa Fe referred to this new service as the "Big D Connection" since the connection point was Dallas (aka "Big D"). This folder contains images of that run-thru traffic east of Dallas on the former L&A Texas Subdivision (now the KCS Greenville Sub). Santa Fe operated their train 975 from Richmond, CA to Dallas, with a connection at Barstow. The 975 would become Train #53 on the L&A for the final trip from Dallas to Shreveport and eventually New Orleans. This train typically carried many perishables, wine and blocks of intermodal traffic. Conversely, L&A Train #54 would originate in New Orleans, travel to Dallas and had a connection with Santa Fe's train #579 from Dallas to Richmond. This arrangment lasted for approximately a decade.
By the early 1990's Santa Fe was vacating Dallas for their new complex at Alliance (north of Fort Worth) and they spun off many of their DFW lines to Dallas Area Rapid Transit, KCS and even abandonment in some cases. Santa Fe's shift, and later their merger with BN (which resulted in trackage rights into New Orleans) had a downward impact on traffic being handed off to KCS/L&A at Dallas.
But during the 1980's it provided some interesting photo opportunities and colorful motive power - - including SPSF-inspired livery. |
