American Freedom Train.......


Uh, that would be a locomotive, specifically the Tom Thumb, not a fire engine...

Now what I'm really confused about is when I google "1880's steam fire engine", the first thing that shows up is photos of the one Josh made out of Legos. Obviously, he knows what one is, and what they look like. Did I miss something in the discussion, or go to the wrong link or what?
It's probably me that's mashing things up. What I'm looking for Bob, is either the OOP Jordan Model of the horse drawn-bat-winged pumper. I've scoured every Highway miniatures(Jordan) link I can find and nothing for them shows.

The other thing I'm looking for is a good starting point for the early B & O RR steam engine named " Arabian ". I can find almost nothing on the net and have only one poor quality picture of it to work from. Josh posted the link of the Tom Thumb and in comparison it is somewhat similar in appearance.

Gosh I hope I didn't muddle it up any further. Sorry about that.:eek:

Johnny
Meh its more me! I should have added the link with it saying, "hows this page for info on the Tom Thumb"

Oh and Bob, I didn't realized that goggles to the #1 spot, no wonder I get lots of emails! For those of you who have not yet googled it:
http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/698

While you're there, check out the other fire engines & the trains, there's allot to see, and it'll clue you into why I'm a detail freak now with the HO trains.

Also (not to steal the thread...) but I was working on a Hose cart & ladder cart at one time, I have yet to see the parts of them (which leads me to believe they're in a box in my sisters garage in AZ).
 
.....Also (not to steal the thread...) but I was working on a Hose cart & ladder cart at one time, I have yet to see the parts of them (which leads me to believe they're in a box in my sisters garage in AZ).


Don't worry about that, It's like any conversation, we get sidetracked on another cool subject and eventually turn back to where we were!! Cool lookin' stuff Josh. I have some of those rounded pump tops I think they're going to come in handy;) !

Johnny
 
Not quite the same quality as your building Johnny, it's on our local auction web site
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Toys-models/Models/Railway/Train-sets/auction-85771323.htm

Ken.

Hi Ken,
I've seen those here a couple of times. I've been watching local shows for them. I won't buy them through ebay anymore as a lot of sellers are nutz with shipp and handling charges. They list an item for .099(USD) and then charge 14 dollars to ship when it should be HALF or less.

BTW, I'm doing a AFT car for a client in Pennsylvania and wii post some pics here as well. Gotta get them uploaded to my account.

Thanks for the info Ken, keep up the great work!

Johnny
 
Well, Although this car is not for MY Freedom Train, I will include the construction and painting of it here. I will need one for mine as well, but this is for a client. Posted with permission.

The car is American Freedom Train No. 202. It was part of the crew cars for the train and carried a generator and kitchen. It is one of very few cars from the train that still survives. It is in B.C. at a museum and wears a maroon type paint with no Freedom Train Markings.

Here is the car in 1976:
car_202.png


The starting point will be the combine kit from Bethlehem Car Works as this car is the prtotype for the AFT car, easy enough. I am in the early stages of construction, and the car went together well. The sub assemblies are no ready for paint.

The body and underframe:

JFIN_AFT_202_carbody_1.png



JFIN_AFT_202_carbody_2.png



JFIN_AFT_202_floor_1.png



JFIN_AFT_202_floor_2.png



The Roof is a different matter. Although nicely rounded like the prototype the vents were different because of the AFT installed kitchen and generator. So I scratched those vents.

The roof:

JFIN_AFT_202_roof_1.png


JFIN_AFT_202_roof_2.png


She goes to the paint shop for primer today. More to come.........

Happy Modeling,

Johnny
 
Nice Johnny, you got it on those ebayshipping charges . It is only $4.05 to ship less the a pound. But I guess they charge more for the packaging and handling Lol
 
The car is American Freedom Train No. 202.

That car was commonly called the "pie car" and it was a diner for the crews. In this case, it was more like a roadside diner, with a counter and stools, rather than a traditional railroad dining car. In any case, it was obviously a favorite of the crews.

By the way, the photo you show was taken in Pittsburgh, PA
 
Hi Ken,
I've seen those here a couple of times. I've been watching local shows for them....

Just curious... Why do you want them? Do you collect anything painted bicentennial? There was never any prototype for those, at least nothing I ever heard about or saw photos of. (Though it did seem just about every railroad in the US painted something red, white and blue.)
 
Thanks Josh and OldGetty!!

That car was commonly called the "pie car" and it was a diner for the crews. In this case, it was more like a roadside diner, with a counter and stools, rather than a traditional railroad dining car. In any case, it was obviously a favorite of the crews.

By the way, the photo you show was taken in Pittsburgh, PA

Right you are Bob. And 'pie' cars were on circus , carnival, military and other 'specialty' trains as well. There is one difference in this one in that it actually contained sleeping quarters in the form of bunks. And pie cars were usually NOT open to the public, rather a special place for employees, kind of a break room of sorts. My wife and I ran the pie car for a circus and we also sold personal care items, and other things one easily couldn't get to while on the tour. The photo was sent to me by the guy I'm doing the car for.

Johnny
 
Nice work Johnny. That looks like a nice kit, how is it to work with?

Hi Fred,

The car is a pretty easy, straight forward build. After I prime, I'm sure I will find places where filling is needed from sprue removal, but with the naked eye it doesn't look too bad. The kit comes with cast soft metal trucks, and one frame was broken but that was a pretty easy fix as well. As kits go, I would / could be happy finding them for my train.

Johnny
 
Forgive my being so dumb...

I don't recall anyone ever saying what happened to this Freedom Train? Is it still around or has it gone the way the rest of railroad history usually does to the scrap heap?

That is some nice work you've done so far Bill!!! Keep up the good work!

Scott :)
 
I don't recall anyone ever saying what happened to this Freedom Train? Is it still around or has it gone the way the rest of railroad history usually does to the scrap heap?

That is some nice work you've done so far Bill!!! Keep up the good work!

Scott :)

Hello Scott,

Most of the American Freedom Train is long gone. A good portion of the train was sold to Canada for use on their ' Discovery Train ', but they wound up back in the U.S. The Union Pacific had them stored outside LasVegas an some vandals turned loose a cut of freight cars that ran into them. They were soon scrapped on sight. By 1995, most of the cars were torched. A few cars still survive with a couple being in British Columbia and others scattered around the U.S. But none is still in American Freedom paint. A shame. One would have thought that a train of this magnitude, would have preserved at least one car in an American museum.

If you would like to know more about which cars survive and where they are, check out this site; http://www.freedomtrain.org/

Here are some of the display cars in the Nevada desert after the runaway hit them. They wear the Canadian ' Discovery Train ' colors.
1561discovery_train_las_vegas2.png



Happy Modeling,

Johnny
 
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Johnny I agree you think the government or someone would have stepped in and took care of them. I can still remeber 76 when they were crossing the good old United States !!!!!!
 
Johnny I agree you think the government or someone would have stepped in and took care of them. I can still remeber 76 when they were crossing the good old United States !!!!!!

You know Paul, with all the things our Government throws money at, one would have thought they would have been more receptive to preserving the train. I realize that the exibits were of more importance, but the vessel also became a historical artifact. Right?

Johnny
 

Well, in a 'splitting-hairs' sort of way. This car is the only one that folks actually passed though that survives. And it is no longer in this service for the AFT group. On a side note when this car was in transit, it was broken into on numerous occasions and artifacts were stolen from it. The group that tried to fund this project just couldn't get the donations. Perhaps that should be my next mission, Maybe that broadcast journalism thingy can be put to use after all.

Johnny
 
Well, in a 'splitting-hairs' sort of way. This car is the only one that folks actually passed though that survives. And it is no longer in this service for the AFT group. On a side note when this car was in transit, it was broken into on numerous occasions and artifacts were stolen from it. The group that tried to fund this project just couldn't get the donations. Perhaps that should be my next mission, Maybe that broadcast journalism thingy can be put to use after all.

Johnny
Ahh, I see. Well it still exists... I guess.
 
Such a waste...

It's so sad that such a piece of history was just carelessly discarded. What even bother's me a little more is that they sold partrs of America's Freedom train to Canada? Why would we do that? It's a piece of history and we sold sold to the Canadiens.
I don't have anything against Canada or Canadiens, but that was our history.

Scott
 



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