The United States has seen two Freedom Trains. The 1947-49 Freedom Train
was a special exhibit train that toured the United States in the later half of the 1940s. A similar train called the American Freedom Train
toured the country for the United States Bicentennial celebration in 1975-76. Both trains were painted in special red, white and blue paint schemes, and both toured the 48 contiguous states with displays of Americana 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.
|
FREEDOM TRAIN TICKETS
|
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
President Harry 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 by
Col. 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. As
Alaska and
Hawaii didn't gain statehood until 1959, this train toured all of the
US States that existed at the time.
The Freedom Train even had an official song, written by
Irving Berlin and performed by
Bing Crosby and the
Andrews Sisters.
The train's first public display stop occurred in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on
September 17 1947. From there, the train traveled in a route that took it up to
New England, down the
Atlantic coast to
Florida, across the nation's southern states to
California, up the
Pacific coast to
Washington, then across the northern states to
Minnesota. After touring the perimeter of the nation, the train moved inland from Minnesota to
Colorado then
Kansas and
Missouri, north to
Wisconsin, then south to the
Ohio River valley, north again to
Michigan and finally east to
New Jersey. The train's official tour end occurred on
January 22 1949 in
Washington, DC, nearly three months after its last public display
October 26 1948 in
Havre de Grace, Maryland. It was the first train to visit all 48 contiguous states (the 1936 Rexall Train had come close, but missed Nevada).
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 former
Reading Company 4-8-4 #
2101. The second was former
Southern Pacific 4449, a large
4-8-4 steam locomotive that is still operating in special excursion service today. The third was former
Texas & Pacific 2-10-4 #
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 original
Louisiana Purchase,
Judy Garland's dress from
The Wizard of Oz,
Joe Frazier's
boxing trunks,
Martin Luther King's pulpit and robes, and even a rock from the
moon.
Over a 21 month period from
April 1,
1975 to
December 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 in
Wilmington, Delaware. The train then traveled northeast to
New England, west through
Pennsylvania,
Ohio to
Michigan, then around
Lake Michigan to
Illinois and
Wisconsin. From the
Midwest, the tour continued westward, zigzagging across the
plains to
Utah and then up to the
Pacific Northwest. From
Seattle,
Washington, the tour then traveled south along the
Pacific coast to
southern California. The train and crew spent
Christmas 1975 in
Pomona, California, decorating the locomotive with a large profile of
Santa Claus on the front of the
smokebox above the front coupler. For 1976, the tour continued from southern California eastward through
Arizona,
New Mexico and
Texas, then turned north to visit
Kansas and
Missouri before traveling through the
Gulf Coast states and then north again to
Pennsylvania. The tour continued southeast to
New Jersey then south along the
Atlantic coast before finally ending
December 26 1976 in
Miami, Florida. The last visitor went through the train
December 31,
1976.
See also
- Freedom Train - 1947–1949 station stops
- American Freedom Train - 1975–76 station stops