My grandfather worked on the railroad in Georgia for years. He was working during the bicentennial on a train that he said had a gold bell on or in it. I was wanting to get him the model of said train but i dont really know which one it was. And i dont want to ask him for fear of giving away the surprise. Can anyone help??
clayton24 My grandfather worked on the railroad in Georgia for years. He was working during the bicentennial on a train that he said had a gold bell on or in it. I was wanting to get him the model of said train but i dont really know which one it was. And i dont want to ask him for fear of giving away the surprise. Can anyone help??
Your train is either the the 1947-48 or 1976-77 American Freedom Train. The 47 engine was an Alco PA and I belive a Bell was decalled on the train. It was also called the "Spirit of 76". the 76 train carried a double size replica of the Liberty Bell, called the Children's Bell in one of the display cars. It was powered by steam mostly, though ATSF, and SP turned out many diesel hlpers in Bicenntnial, and the other roads it hit did an engine or two, and while the engiens have been done in alll three scales, the cars have only been approxiamated in O that I know of Microscale has done in HO, N, and O scale decals, and I think an O scale and N scale model of the engine has been done. Head to the Classic Model Trains forum for O scale, or the Model Railroader for HO & N, for more info on doing the engine, and there was a bell on the design. You might also encourage him to visit www.freedomtrain.org and share his stories of working on the train.
-Morgan
Another possibility exists: Several major railroads (and many smaller ones) painted locomotives red, white, and blue for the Bicentennial. The first of these was apparently Seaboard Coast Line U36B 1776, painted in 1972 when it was realized its SCL number would be 1776. As seen in this photo, it was also given a polished brass bell: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=70716 .
This page will start you on a selection of many, many more such photos and units:
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/bicent1.html
So now you need to determine just which locomotive we may be talking about. For starts, if the locomotive was steam, it's almost assuredly SP 4449 during 1975-1976.
However in GA it would have been Reading 2001 Renumbered AFT1 Google Reading 2102 to see what her sister looks like since it is still out there. The 2101 was damaged and restuffed so to speak in 1979 that is when Ross Rowland got CO 614 to replace it instead.
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