Eastern Railroad Discussion > AFT in 2023

This last weekend I passed through Corunna, Indiana, a small village astride Norfolk Southern's Chicago line.  As I went west I noticed this mural painted on the side of the volunteer fire department building.  No idea who did the work, but I thought it a pretty decent rendering of the former SP American Freedom Train locomotive, which probably barnstormed across the nearby tracks roughly a half century ago.  It's no Niagara, but it looks pretty sharp.

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jbohdan2 Wrote:
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> This last weekend I passed through Corunna,
> Indiana, a small village astride Norfolk
> Southern's Chicago line.  As I went west I
> noticed this mural painted on the side of the
> volunteer fire department building.  No idea who
> did the work, but I thought it a pretty decent
> rendering of the former SP American Freedom Train
> locomotive, which probably barnstormed across the
> nearby tracks roughly a half century ago.  It's
> no Niagara, but it looks pretty sharp.

With the exception of CORUNNA on the side, it looks exactly like the SP4449 with the Mars Light, etc.  It is now in its original Orange, Red and Black paint scheme and resides, of course, operational at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center in Portland and did the majority of the pulling for the AFT in '75 and '76.  It's GS4 Northern 4-8-4.  

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Wow there must have been quite a bit of time spent doing that!
Thanks for posting!

Posted from Android

Yes, the Freedom Train went through Corunna, Indiana westbound on the Penn Central mainline. I have a photo and movies of it west of Corunna at Brimfield.  I can't access it and the date right now. I also took slides and a home movie of it at Kendallville, when it went south to Fort Wayne after turning at Elkhart. The artwork also depicts the historic bridge that is now gone.

Victor Baird



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/23 13:48 by wabash2800.

It didn't take them too long to paint it, I live somewhat near there. While it's no doubt a great mural, Corunna would never have seen 4449, as the train would have been behind Readin 2101 at that point in the tour.

Agreed. The 2101 (AFT No. 1) was our AFT power out here. It's likely somone went out on the Net and found the photo of the 4449 for their artwork.

Victor Baird

kscessnadriver Wrote:
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While it's no doubt a great
> mural, Corunna would never have seen 4449, as the
> train would have been behind Readin 2101 at that
> point in the tour.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/23 13:40 by wabash2800.

Hum, the plot thickens......

Hah?

Victor Baird

jbohdan2 Wrote:
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> Hum, the plot thickens......