Steam & Excursion > American Freedon Train forty one years ago . . .

.   .   .   the slide mount says JAN '76 but in might have been DEC '75 when the American Freedom Train led by the 4449 had just departed Fullerton, CA headed for Anaheim Stadium for a few days on display. This is one of those shots taken way too early requiring quite a bit of cropping thus the less than tack sharpness, at least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
​JB

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Great photo, taken at dawn on the morning of January 9, 1976.  Wish I would have been down there with you instead of being with the crowd at the station, but it was a little too early in the morning for my teenage mind to function properly.  Here are a couple of shots taken about a minute before yours coming into and leaving Fullerton.

Ron Hawkins



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/17 19:33 by PFE_COI.

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Interesting consist arrangement-  the flats, 20 car, and baggage car must be on the rear of the train to simplify switching in Anaheim.  I have the trip synopsis for Santa Barbara-Long Beach and Anaheim-San Diego, but not this move.  The consist was "normal" on those two moves, so this is an interesting bit of detail and I'll add it to my notes.
Nice photos.  Thanks for posting!
SR

I was hired by the AFT in Anaheim the day after these photos were taken- the adventure was on!

SR,

I had always heard that the State of California would not allow freight equipment to be ahead of "passenger" equipment.

It wasn't the State, it was the SP.  They had a thing about "mixed trains".  Their rules said freight cars could not run between passenger cars, so on the SP the flats ran ahead of the Crew/Tool car.  We finally said good bye to the SP on the Tucson-Albuquerque move and the Crew Car returned to it's rightful place behind the '49 in New Mexico.
The photos shown here are on the ATSF, so the placement of the flats would have been a logistical choice.  The ATSF had no issues with where the flats were placed.
SR

I was at the station as well.
JB

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Nice shot at the station JB

got any idea where the Locomotive is.    Mike in OHio

OARC Wrote:
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> got any idea where the Locomotive is.    Mike
> in OHio

Here ya go Mike.

http://www.4449.com/

http://www.orhf.org/oregon-rail-heritage-center/our-locomotives/sp-4449/

Cheers,
Jack



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/17 18:43 by africansteam.

Great pics guys!

SWEET!!

Nice shots!  Sure didnt seem that long ago!

Hey Steve,Dale and Craig

   That train looks quite dirty! California smog???

     Tom

very nice! thanks for sharing, this is one topic you can never see too much of. 

towazy Wrote:
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> Hey Steve,Dale and Craig
>
>    That train looks quite dirty! California
> smog???
>
>      Tom


Hmmmm...
It DOES look kinda rough, doesn't it.
How'bout we wait for you and then paint the whole thing?!
SR

A few more from that morning in 1976.

Cliff

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Now that really IS different- no flats (or the 20 & 33 Cars) at all!! Very odd!
Occasionally those cars were set out on the site first, and then the locomotive came back for the main consist- but Fullerton is too far from Anaheim for this to be the case.
Could a local switcher have moved them separately from Long Beach to Anaheim?
Very curious.
SR


Add on:
I called Doyle and discussed this little mystery with him. (he'd seen this posting earlier this morning)
Cutting to the chase- he doesn't remember WHY the cars are missing, but agrees they were probably moved by the RR separately.
My guess is that the track layout at the site in Anaheim (Angels ballpark) somehow prevented Doyle the room he'd need to switch the train himself. The distance from LB to Anaheim was short enough that it was easier to just sent the AFT straight in and not tie up the ATSF LA-SD mainline fooling around with switch moves. Interesting.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/17 18:24 by BoilingMan.

These are great shots!!!

Yes, the train stopped west of the station earlier with one of the Santa Fe Fullerton roadswitchers removing the flats.
JB

Ah!
Thanks!
SR