Bicentennial on Tour: The American Freedom Train 

Hey! Unlucky Tug! Fancy seeing you here

Thanks man, that's high praise coming from you!

And it wouldn't be the last. Both engines would double head excursions in the Seattle area in 2007. This was the last time they met up.

It's friggin Tug!! *Thomas theme starts playing*

Cool to see two legends interacting

Sounds like the time I heard of an airline pilot tell a story about this nice conversation with an older gentleman....who he found out later to be Buzz Aldrin the astronaut

ross isn’t my favorite person, but that’s pretty lucky

The AFT was in Wichita, KS, March 19 - 23, 1976

He should have been mentioned in this video.

Yes

This is an amazing video

Great video 👍. You can never teach people to much about America

that beginning soo its pretty much like today except we are not just out of a war, record inflation, and dissillusinment yes, perhaps its time we need to be reminded, something to bring us togather, someone that can bring our nation togather, we have excursion and show trains though, but nothing on this scale, of the freedome train of the bicentennial, though around here it was quite a bit adue since our downs centanial was just 2 years before the bicentennial of the nation, but many have forgotten who we are and each thinks they are the one that is saving the union from the other, kindness is nothing without trying to understand, that said, the project by russ rowland for the bicentannal freedom train was very loved, and I come from a railroad town, infact I help at a historical railroad currently helping staff the trains and working on the locomotive in the shops. but people have forgot who we are, or unwilling to do what we once did to get the job done, many have never even seem a steam loco as they dont even go to theme parks that would have them but was so ubiquitas for me growing up in the north east indiana area.and an hour from lima where our engine nickleplate 765, 614, and 4449 were built in ohio, and they were the smallest of the big three steam loco makers but the cadillac of steam engines and well made. and all the stuff restoring we can absolutely do today but its a few less people and costs more money obviously.

No it’s good day for train

You know that at least as of a few years ago, Ross was trying to get support and funding to do it, right?

I would love to see it happen

I regard the volunteer hours I spent restoring the 2101 to be be one of the best things that I ever did in my entire life.

I met 844 in 2007 Saw him in Denver four years in a row Hung out with the engine all day each time A real live choo choo

If Union Pacific would let them use the "Big Boy" X4014 that would be one hell of a coup. I would bust my ass to get to where I could see it, maybe in Omaha or Sioux City I live in Iowa those are both about 6-7 hours drive from me. But those two Loco's running that train would be a miracle.

I’m not entirely sure about using UP 4014, mainly because SP 4449 already had issues running in the East Coast due to its size and weight, which limited it largely to the Western half of the AFT’s route. What more with a larger locomotive like the Big Boys?

The AFT was in Madison Aug 20 - 25, 1975

The AFT was in Columbus from May 22 - June 4, 1975. It moved to Cincinnati on June 4th.

You mean very early 2000s?

@@TrainsAreReallyCool negative. I meant 1990's

@@doubleutubefan5 You typed it as 1900s.

@@TrainsAreReallyCool I did. And that was a mistake. I appreciate you pointing it out cuz I fixed it now

Oh man are they considering it?

@@evan12697 It's probably a bit early for them to be making plans. I mean, 4449 is located in Portland after all, and I think there's a decent chance that city could be abandoned and reclaimed by the wilderness before 2076. But yeah aside from restoring an original Saturn V and taking it up to the parking lot of the Lunar Hilton, idk what would be more appropriate for a Tricentennial.

And considering how many operational steam engines out there on heritage lines, a number of them can pull it, perhaps each steam engine from their proper region can pull it and hand it off, like passing the torch. But I doubt that could happen

You know, my notes even said it was Kansas but it must've slipped my mind when I was labeling the map. Thanks for sharing those interesting details!

Yeah if they do it again they should choose 4014 for the western portion of the tour

And hay, Reading 2102 is available.

I wonder how much track is still left...

Speaking as an American, it's incredibly unlikely there will be another Freedom Train. The politcal and economic climate is basically an exponential of what it was in the 70's. That and getting railroads to play ball with such an idea would be even more difficult. And I'm just summarizing. Also having Ross lead the project is, to put it bluntly, a pipe dream. Opinions of him have shifted somewhat, at least in the railroad community. That said, I wouldn't be opposed to some railroads having Bisequcentennial locomotives

@@russellgxy2905 The BNSF was recently very open to the Train Time movie that just came out this year. Although the 4449 was used in the film, I heard from a later interview that BNSF officials were adamant that the steam engine in the film be of BN or SF heritage, but the director basically said, my movie, my choice. The fact that the BNSF open their ENTIRE system to film on over the course of a few months though was telling enough. Though I suppose it was more of a marketing gig

The AFT was in Salem Nov 15 - 18, 1975, and Santa Barbara Jan 2 - 4, 1976

@@TS-ef2gv Thanks for sharing, too! Happy 4th of July!!!

That would have likely been on Sept 17, 1976, when it arrived in Baltimore from the Philly area.

My town was a prominent train town, dubbed hub city, so it is cool to know it visited

Thanks! I basically had to compile information on the routes and plot them out on a map first, then trace them in the animation software (Adobe After Effects). It was incredibly time-consuming but I wanted it to be as accurate as possible.

The AFT was in El Paso on Feb 6, 1976

Yes, you are correct and I probably could've clarified that point.

The AFT was in Tallahassee Nov 26 - 29, 1976

The AFT was in Portland Nov 11 - 14, 1975

@@TS-ef2gv I’m an old man now. Lol

I watched that video a little while back and can attest that it's a great in-depth telling of that part of the story!

@@peterdibble congratulations on making such a excellent and wholesome documentary sir! I have to say that I have seen some RU-vid documentaries on flying Scotsman’s journeys across the United States and Australia, and I was really hoping that someone would make something like that about the American freedom train, and you certainly did not disappoint! And I have to say that I love how the story was just as much about the American public and the crew of the freedom train as well as the engineering side of the equation. In your opinion, do you think something like the American freedom train will happen again? I’m not sure about 2026 but I am convinced that something similar to it could occur 50 years from now in 2076. Personally, I think that the locomotives most likely to be used for a third American freedom train would depend on when it happened but I think that the most likely candidates could be 4449 (for obvious reasons) as well as Union Pacific big boy 4014 (The big boy is wildly popular in the United States, and I could definitely see it being used for the western half of the United States in such a project) Norfolk and western 611 (611 as you mentioned was already considered, and it probably would be most likely to be used in the eastern US) union pacific 844 (it has the unique distinction as being the only steam locomotive never to have been retired by a class one railroad in the United States, and as alluded to in the video it is no stranger to large public events, if the big boy was unavailable than 844 would be a suitable substitute) one of the two running Santa Fe steam locomotives whether that be 3751 or 2926. (both of these are iconic locomotives, and 2926 was just recently restored a year ago and is just beginning it’s excursion career) If it occurs at any point after the year 2030 then another interesting candidate would be in the running. You see there is a preservation group in the north eastern United States that is currently building a new running example of the extinct Pennsylvania railroad T1 class that is rumored to have been as fast or faster than the British locomotive Mallard. If you look up what the Pennsylvania T1’s look like you will agree with me that if that was in something like the American freedom train colors, it would look very dashing indeed.

Neat! Members of the crew often said in interviews that Archbold was their favorite stop on the tour because of how welcoming the people were there compared to many of the larger stops.

June 14 - 16, 1975