Farmrail's Quartz Mountain Flyer excursion train operates in southwestern Oklahoma
on selected weekends throughout the year, between the
entrance to Oklahoma's Quartz Mountain State Park (located off State Hwy 44 between Altus and Lugert) and Lone Wolf.
Round trip
distance is approximately 20 miles, and takes 2 1/2 hours (an hour each way with a half-hour stop in Lone Wolf).
Track speed is all 10 mph; the track -- part of the original Kansas City, Mexico & Orient mainline -- is mostly flat
and straight,
with the exception of a short stretch of track which curves through the Quartz Mountains and around the south shore
of Lake Altus-Lugert near the south end of the run. The City of Lone Wolf, Oklahoma sponsors the train.
I took the following photos of the Quartz Mountain Flyer on Saturday, October 16, 2004, a beautiful fall day which
also happened to be the date of CTC Board Magazine's
"Day in North America", a specially designated day held on a different date each year, when rail photographers
throughout North America are encouraged to photograph trains and rail operations and submit them for a special issue
of the magazine.
