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Before the steam powered Bicentennial train moved toured the US, the Preamble Express tested the route.
The SP 4449 powered the American Freedom Train in AR. I took the day off and jointed with some friends to chase this train from Newport to North Little Rock. Behind the steamer were the two MP Bi-Centennial locomotives.
The train was made up of a series of converted baggage cars. Some had glass sides installed so people could see into the cars while it passed through towns. On the MP, the train slowed to 5 MPH going through town so people could see the train and items on display.
Part of the displays were in standard baggage cars that had been modified inside. As I remember, there was a moving walkway inside these cars to move people down the aile to view the displays behind glass panels.
From Chattanooga we went to Lexington, Kentucky traveling up the Rat-Hole division. I wish I had had my tape recorder going on that run! The ole girl really got a workout!
I am the one cleaning the side rods. Those eighty-inch drivers sure were big! At almost every display site we would wash and/or clean the locomotives. Time would dictate how thorough a job we would do, but we always tried to keep the running gear and wheels clean. A bucket of kerosene or fuel oil and some rags combined with quite a bit of elbow grease would get the wheels and side rods looking like new again! Brasso was a much used element, too. All the care and attention which we could give to these wonderful machines was well worth the effort. - Bill Dennington
The catenary which can be seen curving off behind the locomotive is the overhead wire for the old trolley which makes periodic runs on the tracks of the old station complex. - Bill Dennington
Here is a series of image of my chase of the AFT.
The following are a series of photos from the American Freedom Train visit to Pittsburgh PA, 7/9/76. The train was displayed in the PRR Station in that city. Photos by Bob Rathke.
Mr. William E. Brandon sent a series of photos he took in Columbus OH and Pittsburgh PA of the American Freedom Train visit. The train was pulled by a Reading 4-8-4 and some photos are included in the series. Also shown are the cars and some of the exterior displays.
I was checking different railroad sites and found yours, it is really good. I thought you might be interested in talking to someone who had some experience on some of the steam locomotives you have depicted in your files.
I worked on the Southern Steam in the early 70's, 4501, 722, 630, and 750. I was a part of the road crew which traveled with the engines and maintained and fired the engines while on the road. Bill Purdie was our overseer and teacher. It was invaluable experience and kind of a once in a lifetime job.
My time with the Southern team enabled me to go to work for Ross Rowland in Birmingham, Alabama in May of 1976 and become a part of the locomotive crew for the T-1 (RDG 2101). I got to fire this great locomotive on many of the runs between display cities. She was a powerful engine and could pull a mountain up by its roots! It had a tendency to slip though and it was important to have the sanders in good working order as they came in handy on some of the steeper grades.
I switched to the Daylight (4449) in Washington, DC at the end of August. The 4449 took over the duties on the Freedom Train then and took the train on the rest of its East Coast tour down to Miami, Florida. Being an oil burner it was alittle different form the coal burners I had been trained on, but it was steam never the less!
My impressions of the Daylight were mostly how much bigger it was over the T-1. They both had loud stacks, however the T-1 when it really got down to business was much louder than the Daylight.
I also had the privilege of both firing and running the AWP 290 while working for the New Georgia Railroad. I had seen this engine as a very young boy (5-6 years old) when it was on display at the old Southeastern fairgrounds in Lakewood a suburb of Atlanta. To get to run a Heavy Pacific so similar to the Southern Ps-4 was needless to say a real thrill.
We took the 290 on its old run from Atlanta to Montgomery in August of 1992. It was the first time in almost 40 years that the engine had been down that line. It pulled the Crescent Limited on its regular assignment picking up at Terminal Station in Atlanta from the Southern.
I have some pictures of the engines, but not many. I did not have much of an opportunity to take pictures when I worked. But I do have the memories!
I will send you some photos that may work for you. Some are black and white and some are color. I must admit that the few I took with my Kodak Instamatic are lacking some in quality, however it is a record of my journey. The black and white pictures I will be sending you I did not take, but I cannot recall who did take them. They were given to me over the course of the seven months I worked on the train. I have one good postcard picture of 4449 in her Freedom Train livery and one good black and white photo taken (I believe) in Raleigh, North Carolina.
I do have other pictures of the Southern engines, 4501, 722, 630, and Savannah and Atlanta 750. All but 630 are retired now. 750 ran for the New Georgia Railroad, too. I did not get a second time with her as by the time I was hired she had been retired. The FRA inspector condemned the boiler due to the crown sheet being way too thin. In fact a 3ft x 4ft section of the crown sheet was cut out and exposed the dangerously thin steel around the staybolts.
I was qualified as an engineer with the New Georgia in 1991 and ran two E-8 and two FP-7 diesels on the dinner train which we ran from Underground Atlanta out to Stone Mountain over the CSX main to Augusta. I also ran the weekend trips which ran out to Stone Mountain and also around the Emory Loop. The loop was about a twenty mile trip around the city of Atlanta, all on CSX trackage, and we ran both the dinner trains and the excursion trips on weekends on the loop.
One of the E-8's was the former Southern 6901 and the other was a former New York Central E-8. The two FP-7's were the 3498 and 3499 from the Southern Railway. We also had the opportunity to lease the CSX F-units 116 and 118 along with one of the B-units 117. They were the former Clinchfield Railroad F-units. It was a wonderful sound around the shop and out on the road to hear those first generation EMD's do their thing!
I have pictures of the diesels and the AWP 290. 290 ran for almost three years and then was retired. The financial demands of running the steam engine was greater than the State of Georgia wanted to spend on the New Georgia. Eventually the entire operation was shut down and the equipment returned to the Southeastern Railroad Museum or sold off.
We had used the entire consist of the American-European Express for some of our trips. And this is now being used in touring service today. The two Southern FP-7's were sold to the Stone Mountain Railroad and are in use today. 6901 is retired and at the museum. 6902 was sold and I don't know her final disposition. Both 750 and 290 are at the museum and will not ever run again.
I do have quite a collection of on-train recordings of the American Freedom Train with both the T-1 and the Daylight. As far as I know they are some of the only on-train recordings made during the entire two-year tour around the nation. It is pretty good stuff, too. I also have many tapes of the Southern engines working various trips in the 70's, again all on-train recordings.
Sincerely,
Bill Dennington
Atlanta, Georgia
The following are comments received on the EL chat site.
The discussion on the AFT got me to looking for the instamatic pictures I took of it when it passed thru Painted Post and Corning on July 16,1976. I took the day off from work to see it at PP as I knew it had some switching moves to make there. It came north on the old NYC/PC from Newberry Jct thru the Pa. Grand Canyon to Corning. There it had to get to the EL main to go east. The PC/EL interchange switch was a trailing point for a north bound train so they had to back thru the interchange to the EL where the train was headed west. To reverse direction they proceeded west to PP where they backed the train up "B" spur onto the Rochester Branch alongside the Ingersoll-Rand plant. They then came ut the other side of the wye, A spur, onto the EL main and proceeded east.The whole proceedure took about two hours but no one complained. The engine was definitely an ex Reading T-1 although i don know which one as it was numbered #1 for the AFT.
I was looking at some pics. on the web tonight of the American freedom
train and it brought back some memories from when I was A kid.
Until I was about 12 I lived about 1/4 mile from the Mt. Tabor, NJ.
Station so I was always seeing trains going by there. One day my older
brother told me that the AFT was coming by that night but I had no idea what
he was talking about. During dinner that night my mother and father were also
talking about it so I knew it must be something special but they said it
wasn't coming by till after the dreaded bed time so I couldn't go to watch
it. After dinner my brother left on his bike to go down to the Denville
station and the rest of us went to bed.
At this time my mother worked at night and didn't get home till after
midnight so I don't know if she came home early or not but she came in and
woke up the rest of us and said we were going to see the train. On the way
out my father kept telling me to look at the wheels on the engine because
they would be taller than me. Anyway we got down to Denville station and
found my brother in the crowd he showed us A headlight off in the distance
and said it was the train and that it had bin sitting there for A long time
because they thought there might be A problem getting the loco. thru the
station without derailing. ( Maybe the crossovers west of the station or the
sharp curve to the Morristown line I don't know)
Anyhow after A long time the train crept thru the station and sure enough
the wheels were bigger than me. Needless to say I was amazed by the size of
the loco. and the rest of the train.
I think it was the next day my mother took us to see the train again where
it was parked IM not sure where we went but I think it might have bin at the
Warner Lambert plant in Morris plains NJ. I don't remember much about what
was in the train cars but I do remember A lot of glass cases in the cars
because I was too small to see in them IM not sure how accurate my memories
are as I was only 5 or 6 at the time. Does anyone else recall anything about
this? Can any of you guys give A date or tell me what loco. was on the train
in this area I think they used 2 different engines for the AFT Also how did
it get to Denville on the cutoff or the Pburg line and did it run over other
parts of the EL (the West end maybe) lastly was this during EL or was it
after Conrail.
MIKEDC3
The Freedom Train was displayed at Mennon Arena in Morristown, NJ in May
of 1975. The move you saw at Denville was an EL operation. I don't know
exactly where the train was coming from, but I did see the display in Albany
in early April that year. The engine used was an ex Reading 4-8-4 (formerly
2100 or 2101, not sure which) lettered AFT #1. This engine is on display at
the B&O Museum in Baltimore still in it's AFT livery (I saw it there 2 weeks
ago).
It was indeed former Reading Company T-1 2101 that powered thr Freedom Train
on its travels in the Northeast. Both of the other locomotives, SP Daylight
GS-4 4449 and Texas & Pacific 2-10-4 610 were too large to operate on many
lines east of the Mississippi which is why it was chosen. The 2101 was one of
four T-1's the Reading returned to service for the famous Iron Horse Rambles,
however, it never powered any of the 51 trips. It was under steam as a backup
locomotive on a couple of occasions. I know of at least one fan who it being
test run in Reading prior to one of the Rambles.
After the train finished its showing at the Mennen Arena it left for Long
Island but the T-1 did not accompany the train as it would not clear the third
rail on the LIRR so it went to the Morristown & Erie R.R. where it recieved
its annual inspection and some needed repairs. The night it was due to leave
to rejoin the train it turned over two rails while running around its train
derailing the No. 2 and 3 axles trying to negotiate a tight curve on the
interchange at Morristown. I assisted in the rerailing of the engine and
switching of the cars to get it on its way that night.
I've seen it at the B&O Museum a couple of times and in a conversation with
one of the staff and a former Chessie System executive I was told it was not
as badly damaged as first thought in the Silver Grove (Kentucky) roundhouse
fire. Remember, it's a fire that makes these great machines run.
Can you help me establish contact with those that I have worked with
during the Bicentennial? I spent one year on the train working in
'operations'. I lived on this train
from San Juan Capistrano to Miami.
Thank You
Last Updated - 30 Aug 2008
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