Railroaders' Nostalgia > My Dumb Luck: the AFT years:

1. An Intro:

In December 1975, as result of a chance meeting and a series of improbable circumstances, I found myself in the employ of The American Freedom Train.

Over the next 14mo I plan to tell my story here in a weekly post. I will time the posts to coincide with the calendar as things happened 38yrs ago. I was not part of the locomotive crew, I was part of the operations crew- the 'foot soldiers' of the AFT. I'm hoping to tell the Freedom Train story from a perspective you may not have previously considered: what went on aft of the steam locomotives.

Also, it's a look at the American RR scene as it existed in the mid 70's. Conrail launched that year. Amtrak was only 5 yrs old and up in Canada CNR was introducing VIA. Many 1st generation diesels were still in front line service. And I stumbled across a remarkable number of steam engines in parks & museums that would live again- but who knew?!

I expect (hoping, actually) that I'll be learning more about all this too- from all of you. It's starting to be a long time ago, and I've either forgotten, misunderstood, or simply never knew all the back stories concerning the AFT, the places we visited, and the things we saw.

I first saw the AFT in Palmdale CA on Dec 22.
We'll start then.

SR Bush
Dutch Flat CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/13 09:40 by BoilingMan.

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Wow!

That may be the best night photo of a GS-4 that I've ever seen. Might even beat Steinheimer! Any chance it can be scanned in higher resolution?

D F W

Great start Steve! Glad to see you last week and get the heads up on it. Been waiting to read your stories. Keep up the good work!

Matt

SR... What a GREAT shot! As a fellow AFTer, this will be another ride down the rails that we were so lucky to experience. I hope you have a picture of the pie car, and pie car John!
Craig

Wildebeest Wrote:
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> Wow!
>
> That may be the best night photo of a GS-4 that
> I've ever seen. Might even beat Steinheimer! Any
> chance it can be scanned in higher resolution?
>
> D F W

You know, I knew Dick Steinheimer. Dick was a friend of mine. And sir, I'm no Dick Stienhiemer.
Thank you- I'll see what I can do- I'm not sure how that got knocked down to such a low res.
That was in Jacksonville FL. They had the '49 lit so it could be seen from the highway. I went out around 2am and moved all the lights around behind the locomotive to backlight it. There are several sections of the boiler jacket missing (they were fixing a leaking staybolt) and there were some tanks for a torch alongside the tender (I covered them w a sleeping bag, I think). Whole thing took about 2hrs- and FL gets cold at night in Nov!
I miss Stien.

sp3204 Wrote:
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> SR... What a GREAT shot! As a fellow AFTer, this
> will be another ride down the rails that we were
> so lucky to experience. I hope you have a picture
> of the pie car, and pie car John!
> Craig

Hey Craig! It's going to be funny to see who this thing smokes out..
No, sorry, nothing of PC John (too bad, he literally put the Pie in PC!) But I have PC Mindy.. You'll see her in about July.

BoilingMan:

> You know, I knew Dick Steinheimer. Dick was a
> friend of mine. And sir, I'm no Dick Stienhiemer.

I met Dick only once long enough to have an extended conversation with hjm, and was amazed by the range of his interests and knowledge of everything from ocean drilling to Ford vans. He was a poet with a kind heart, a true renaissance man, a sensitive artist, and probably the most creative photographer the railroad world has known. I wish I had had a chance to know him better.

I have always especially appreciated his naturally lit night shots of the SP in the waning years of steam. I certainly didn't mean to suggest that with that one picture, you're a better photographer than Stein, but I don't think he ever created a steam silhouette quite as dramatic as your shot of the 4449.

D F W

No worries- I was truly just teasing. I'm flattered, actually.

I mostly knew Dick by way of Jeff Brouws, who knew him quite well. I tagged along.
Everything you said is true- a wonderful guy. He somehow got left behind at Winterail one year and sheepishly asked for a ride back to Sac. I said sure, but I was driving my old British Land-Rover in those days. He loved it! Said he had one back in the day.

Posted from iPhone

BoilingMan:
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> No worries- I was truly just teasing.

I sorta figured you were -- Your comment sounded a lot like a line uttered by Vice Presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen in 1988.

> I mostly knew Dick by way of Jeff Brouws, who knew
> him quite well. I tagged along.

Another name I've run across over the years, whose photos and prose I found most interesting and who seemed like someone I'd like to meet.

> but I was driving my old British
> Land-Rover in those days. He loved it!

I would have too. I've always liked the "styling," though I'm not sure I'd want one as my daily driver. Kinda noisy and slow. That said by someone who has owned a 1960 Mercedes diesel for 37 years!

D

Thanks... she was much cuter than John anyway! But he was a character among the many that inhabited the train.
Craig