- American Freedom Train
The American Freedom Train was a special exhibit
train that toured theUnited States in the later half of the 1940s, and again with different equipment for theUnited States Bicentennial celebrations. Both trains were painted in special red, white and blue paint schemes, and both toured the 48 contiguous states with displays ofAmericana and related historical artifacts. The two trains took different routes around the 48 states, but they both stopped for public displays in each of them.The 1947-1949 "Freedom Train"
The 1947-1949 Freedom Train was proposed by Attorney General
Tom C. Clark as a way to reawaken Americans to their taken-for-granted principles of liberty in the post-war years. The idea soon got the approval of PresidentHarry S. Truman and everything else fell into place. Top Marines were selected to attend to the train and its famous documents. The Marine contingent was led byCol. Robert F. Scott .The train carried the original versions of the
United States Constitution , Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights on its tour of more than 300 cities in all 48 states. AsAlaska andHawaii didn't gain statehood until 1959, this train toured all of theUS State s that existed at the time.The Freedom Train even had an official song, written by
Irving Berlin and performed byBing Crosby and theAndrews Sisters .The train's first public display stop occurred in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , onSeptember 17 1947 . From there, the train traveled in a route that took it up toNew England , down theAtlantic coast toFlorida , across the nation's southern states toCalifornia , up thePacific coast toWashington , then across the northern states toMinnesota . After touring the perimeter of the nation, the train moved inland from Minnesota toColorado thenKansas andMissouri , north toWisconsin , then south to theOhio River valley, north again toMichigan and finally east toNew Jersey . The train's official tour end occurred onJanuary 22 1949 inWashington, DC , nearly three months after its last public displayOctober 26 1948 inHavre de Grace, Maryland . It was the first train to visit all 48 contiguous states (the 1936 Rexall Train had come close, but missed).The 1975-1976 "American Freedom Train"
A second "Freedom Train", The American Freedom Train, toured the country in 1975–1976 to commemorate the
United States Bicentennial . This 26-car train was powered by three newly restored steam locomotives. The first to pull the train was formerReading Company 4-8-4 #2101. The second was formerSouthern Pacific 4449 , a large4-8-4 steam locomotive that is still operating in special excursion service today. The third was former Texas & Pacific2-10-4 #610, which pulled the train in Texas.Within the train's 10 display cars were over 500 precious treasures of Americana. Included in these diverse artifacts were
George Washington 's copy of the Constitution, the originalLouisiana Purchase ,Judy Garland 's dress from The Wizard of Oz,Joe Frazier 'sboxing trunks, Martin Luther King's pulpit and robes, and even a rock from themoon .Over a 21 month period from
April 1 ,1975 toDecember 31 ,1976 more than 7 million Americans visited the train during its tour of all 48 contiguous states. Millions more stood trackside to see it go by.The train's tour began
April 1 1975 inWilmington, Delaware . The train then traveled northeast toNew England , west throughPennsylvania ,Ohio toMichigan , then aroundLake Michigan toIllinois andWisconsin . From theMidwest , the tour continued westward, zigzagging across the plains toUtah and then up to thePacific Northwest . FromSeattle, Washington , the tour then traveled south along thePacific coast tosouthern California . The train and crew spentChristmas 1975 inPomona, California , decorating the locomotive with a large profile ofSanta Claus on the front of thesmokebox above the front coupler. For 1976, the tour continued from southern California eastward throughArizona ,New Mexico andTexas , then turned north to visitKansas andMissouri before traveling through theGulf Coast states and then north again toPennsylvania . The tour continued southeast toNew Jersey then south along theAtlantic coast before finally endingDecember 26 1976 inMiami, Florida . The last visitor went through the trainDecember 31 ,1976 .ee also
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American Freedom Train - 1947–1949 station stops
*American Freedom Train - 1975–76 station stops External links
* [http://www.freedomtrain.org/aft_timeline.htm 1975-76 American Freedom Train Timeline]
* [http://www.lincoln-highway-museum.org/FT/FT-Index.html 1947--The Freedom Train--1949]
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