Just a Sampling

I am not going to comment much today about the cards in this blog. I have 32 post cards in my collection under the theme of the freedom trains. Two are from the 1948 Freedom Train and the rest are related to the American Freedom Train of 1976. I am just going to post six of the pictures here so that you can see the various locomotives that were decorated to celebrate the bicentennial.

A Preamble to the Preamble

In the last blog post we saw the "Preamble Express" the preceded the American Freedom Train as it traveled across the United States as part of the celebrations of the bicentennial of American Independence from Great Britain in 1776. Today we see a different type of "Preamble Express". To test the eventual routing of the AFT, a "Preamble

Express" consisting of a red, white & blue locomotive and four passenger cars was sent around the country in 1974. The first locomotive to pull this train was Delaware & Hudson #2312 (earlier numbered 312), a U23B built by GE (build number 36814, Sept. 1968). This train actually toured the USA for 4 months getting ready for the actual Freedom Train and its Preamble Express. The description on the back of this post card tells us that this train "is ready to depart Lebanon, N.J.", which was the location of the offices responsible for the success of the American Freedom Train.

The post card was published by the Audio-Visual Designs Company. Audio-Visual Designs was started in 1964 by Carl Sturner for the sole purpose of providing railfans with sound recordings of locos and trains as well as with photochrome postcards of trackside photos. These stunning color images

were taken all over the country by some well-known photographers such as David Sweetland. The history and product line of AVD can be found on the company's website at www.audiovisualdesigns.com This is taken from my favorite post card website: The Metropolitan Postcard Club.

The Preamble to the Constitution, I Mean Freedom Train

The Union Pacific Railroad loaned one of their engines (Number 951) to Freedom Train movement in 1976. We see a picture of it here on the front of this post card. It is called "The Preamble Express". It was named this for at least two reasons: 1) The Constitution of the United States has a preamble. I quote it here: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense,promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

2) A preamble is a preparatory statement or introduction to what follows. The train in this picture was the introduction to the train which followed it. The locomotive chosen for this job was an E9 that belonged to the Union Pacific RR. The E9 was a 2,400-horsepower (1,790 kW), A1A-A1A passenger train-hauling diesel locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois between April 1954 and January 1964. 100 cab-equipped A units were produced and 44 cabless booster B units, all for service in the United States. The E9 was the tenth and last model of EMD E-unit and differed from the earlier E8 as built only by the newer engines and a different, flusher-fitting mounting for the headlight glass, the latter being the only visible difference. (Taken from Wikipedia).

This seems like it would be an honor for the people sitting in the passenger coaches and for the crew chosen to pilot the train. However, as I read the words on the back of the post card describing what is on the front, I read these words: "The Preamble Express was used to check security for the Freedom Train." That is code to me for this train was used to go ahead of the Freedom Train to discover and hidden mines or bombs on the tracks or bridges. This makes the people involved in the Preamble Express true heroes in my books.

The post card was published by Mary Jayne's Railroad Specialties. I only had one interaction with Mary Jane, but I think she must be a saint. I wrote her a letter asking if she had a catalog of the post cards that she published. I explained about my train post card collection and how I look at both the front and back of the post cards. I asked that, if there was a catalog could I somehow get a copy. I fully expected that I would have to pay something for the printing or photocopying. She wrote me a personal letter (along with the catalog) thanking me for my humble approach. She had received many DEMANDS from people that she send them the catalog. All she asked was that I give some money to a charity of my choice. I gave money to the "Feeding Hungry Minds" endowment fund. If you want to know more about the fund leave a comment below. I was deeply impressed by her kindness.

The train in the picture above is passing through Hollywood, Florida. The printer of the post card is also from Hollywood, FL

The Freedom Train Celebrating the Fourth of July

Today is the Fourth of July. In honor of the meaning of this day to the American readers, my American family and my American half (I have two citizenships), I will dedicate the month of July to the post cards in my collection that celebrate the Fourth of July. First up is a set of two post cards. These are the oldest two post cards that celebrate American Independence.

The idea about the first Freedom Train seen in the U.S. was presented by the Attorney General of the USA as a way to reawaken post-World War II Americans to the principles of liberty. It was a way of letting that American citizens realize that these were not to be taken for granted. He presented his idea in April of 1946. The train made its first stop in Philadelphia in September of 1947. The train made at least one stop each of the 48 contiguous states. It went up into New England first, then down and across the South (January 1, 1948 found it in Georgia) then up the West Coast and back across to Washington, D.C. for January of 1949.

These two post cards have almost identical backs:

Each back reminds us that these are "OFFICIAL Freedom Train Postcard's at the top. In the bottom left-hand corner it states that these post cards are copyrighted: "Copyright 1918 - The American Heritage Foundation". Under that is the post card number: either F.T.-1 or F.T.-2 The top card is number one.

For the rest of the month, I will share some of the Freedom Trains that appeared in the United States for the 1976 Bicentennial Celebrations.