Steam & Excursion > Skillman's AFT- On the Way to The 4th

These photos are from Bob Skillman's camera.  Bobby was with AFT Security, one of the many divisions of the AFT Staffing.  Bob passed way quite a few years ago now, and somehow I ended up w many of his slides.
Anyway..
Most of these photos were taken in the course of our move from Cumberland MD to Harrisburg PA on July 1st, 1976.  A highlight of the trip was having Mamie Eisenhower aboard for an hour or so.  We picked her up in Gettysburg and took her to York PA  (the Eisenhower Farm was near there).  She was very nice and very interested in meeting AFT staff without  fancy managing titles.
SR
Photo 1.  Somewhere along the way...
Photo 2.  Mamie.  In the left corner is Jim Dever (Night Operations) and the face you can just see behind her was part of her staff- maybe Secret Service.
Photo 3.  Pretty sure that's me in the white shirt in the background...

Photo 4.  At York she was given a certificate of some sort.  I don't know who that is on the left.  Petr (without an E) Spurney, AFT President, on the right.
Photo 5. This one wasn't clearly labeled, but might be arrival in Harrisburg  (technically the New Cumberland Army Depot across the river from Harrisburg.
Photo 6.  Advertising 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/26 13:57 by BoilingMan.

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Very interesting stuff! There is no longer rail access into Cumberland Army Depot, all rubber tires now.
Gonut

Thank you for sharing those historic images.  The AFT really
was an amazing group effort.and obviously appreciated
by many.  It put a whole new perspective on the 1976 
effort for me ...

Cheers,

Odyssey
Evergreen, CO



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/26 23:45 by Odyssey.

SR...I was working security in the 205 car on this particular trip (Red 23 at your service). I was able to have many conversations with her which was one of the highlights of my Freedom Train experience! I thought all of the history she knew in her lifetime.  I can tell you that the Secret Service were of course very serious which was there job and had NO sense of humour. As I was talking to one of them he kept checking out my AFT badge with my name, showing my state of California etc. PS...as I walked past one of them making contact it was very obvious to me they were packing some serious armament.

They were all earphones and bulges.
SR

I mentioned this in an article I did for TRAINS magazine on the AFT’s 40th.
Their editor red penciled “bulges”. I wasn’t allowed to say bulges in TRAINS.

Posted from iPhone

SR...it's good Todd does not worry about "bulges" on the web site!

I visited the AFT at the Cumberland depot, and repositioned a couple times to get better photo locations. The engine was posed on a slight curve, with a whole bunch of cryptically labeled crates of various shapes and sizes stacked up along the inside of the curve, next to the track. 

I thought that made a cool pic, showing what kind of venue they had chosen, and I set up a handful of photos: train on the left, olive drab crates on the right. 

I was soon joined by two gentlemen dressed in green, carrying M16s. They made a brief but convincing cas that I should be somewhere else. But they didn't confiscate the film. 

The 4th was one of the few days in ‘76 when I WASN’T around the AFT. I was up early and got a ride over to Harrisburg where I caught the Broadway Ltd to NYC to see the Tall Ships sail up the Hudson.
It was well into the 5th by the time I got back to the train- a VERY long day!
SR