American Freedom Train

[J3a-614]

Just a link to a virtual museum of this special train, in both its 1947 and 1975 versions.

http://freedomtrain.org/

Touch of trivia, for a C&O modeler:  The 1947 edition of the Freedom Train was in Charleston, W.Va. on Sept. 25, 1948, and in Huntington, W.Va., on Sept. 26, 1948.  Less than a week later, on or about October 1, 1948, Harry Truman's  campaign special ran between Ashland, Ky. and Montgomery, W.Va. (last campaign stop on this particular trip) before proceeding to Washington, DC (overnight run).

Now, how do I justify to my wife, and to me, the cost of two special trains, including what would likely be a brass model of presidential car Ferdinand Magellan?  More importantly, how do I come up with the money?

[ABC]

More importantly, how do I come up with the money?

People will pay good money to take a whack at a car with a big ole sledge hammer. Other great fund-raising ideas: a lemonade stand, a car wash, or a 50-50 raffle with a Chinese auction. Just make sure your wife's not gonna kill you before you go through all that trouble raising the money. By the way, do you like my fonts... Who knew there were so many fonts...

[jward]

keep in mind the bicentennial freedom train used at least 3 different steamers depending on where the train was. out west they used an sp gs4 northern. in the east it was a reading t1 northern that later was used on the chessie steam special. that was the steamer that got the full chessie system paint job. and down south they used a t&p 2-10-4. you'd have to do further research to find out exactly where each was used, but i saw the t1 pulling the freedom train around horseshoe curve in altoona, pa