The AFT was my first and only exposure to an operating T-1, when it rolled through New England. Thanks for the photos, Richard.

Stephen

Ladies and Gentlemen, May I ask that we keep this discussion on a positive professional plane without getting into the silly name calling, and blame game nonsense.

Any reasonable person knows that the B&O Museum has gone through some rough events beyond their control and overall have done a very credible job of not only surviveing but coming out the other side a better place. Lord knows they'd like to see AFT 1 back looking like she did when we gave her to them in 1979 and so would we.

The task at hand now is to see how we can work things out within the realities of the demands on their available space ( you can't repaint her properly out of doors) and other already scheduled projects. I'm confident that there's a good chance that we can get her done this calendar year or at least give it a good college try.

I agree that she made many friends during her 2 years on the AFT and that it's possible that with some reasonable effort many of them would contribute to her refurbishment??

As to the Great Seal of the United States now carried on both sides of her tender I have had an initial conversation with the White House and I think ( underline THINK)_we will be able to get the Fed's to supply us with 2 appropriate sized roll on decals which will eliminate the need to hand repaint them. It took artist Bob Lorenz ( still alive and well and willing to travel to Baltimore if need be ) approx. 9 days on each side to hand paint the Great Seals in 1975. You might find it interesting that when we recieved permission to use the Great Seal on the tender in 1975 we were told, if memory serves me correctly, that this was only the second time that permission had been granted for use on a "non-government" property??

Anyway, let's stay positive and see what we can get done!!

Ross Rowland

This is a nation of its people, and the railroads helped build this nation by its people. So why not have the seal on it.


BTW, be sure to use plenty of dullcoat after the decal is on.....

It is amazing that the B&O Museum has been able to rebuild after the collapse. We all know how difficult it is to be able to fund anything in railway preservation. As I mentioned earlier, with the proper publicity, a few well placed news stories the money will appear.

Okay, this will be controversial, but perhaps the roof collapse was a blessing in disguise? I know it destroyed and damaged some irreplaceable rolling stock and machinery, but did the situation raise awareness of the need for funding? Did it beat the gong and bring in donations that might not have appeared otherwise? A severe cost, but they seem to have made tremendous progress since the disaster.

BTW, are their plans to shelter more of the outdoor equipment?

I think there is merit to that argument, but I'm not sure if the funding resulting was more or less of than what was lost in the process. How many of us actually cared about Haiti until they had a bit of bad luck lately which garnered them a ton of PR? They were equally impoverished even before the earthquake, but had nowhere near the amount of support.

dave

I am not as familiar with the goings on at the B&O Museum but there were three major hits to railroad preservation/history in the East within a short period of time back in 2003. The collapse of the roundhouse, the loss of Kinzua Viaduct, and the near total destruction of the Wilmington and Western RR due to a flash flood. While the total loss of Kinzua was the end and the collapse of the roof in Baltimore might be debatable as to being a blessing I can say that the flood at Wilmington and Western was the best thing that could have happened.

At the time it sucked and some wondered if we would recover but we did. While we lost our beautiful wooden trestles we avoided a long slow decay of the bridges. I would argue that funding was a lot easier to bring in due to the catastrophic nature of the flood compared to trying to raise funds every couple of years to repair decaying bridges. Back in the 1980's we fooled around with repair after repair, temporary closures, and speed restrictions over the Hercules trestle for years before we got together the money to make a major repair. Had it not been for the total destruction of the bridges this cycle would have played out over and over and we have a lot of bridges. I am sure the W&W would have made it work but due to the flood now the bridges are now as rock solid.

Tom, the B&O Museum really seems to be in exactly the same boat.

The crisis helped pull them out of the doldrums, and while I was only there once beforehand, I can say that the place now has a lot going for it.

Is it all it can be? Probably not, but it IS a good facility, run by people who are competent and is a great asset to the community (both the city and the RRPres community).

I think it could be said the museum is the core of the urban revitalization in that area. FOr that reason alone, care of the outdoor exhibits should be presented for whichever agencies can underwrite the paint.

If Reading 2101 was restored cosmetically, would the locomotive continued sporting the colors as the American Freedom Train #1 or as Chessie System #2101?

Again from my experience, I wasn't even born yet when 2101 was operating back during the 1970s. My parents and my sister saw 2101 as the AFT #1. Back in 1993, it was my first visit to the B&O Museum and I finally got to see 2101 as the AFT #1. Last year in 2009, it was my second visited to the B&O Museum and saw 2101 again, now sandwich between some rolling stock, where as before it was out in the open.

If it were restored cosmetically, I would prefer seeing 2101 sporting the Chessie System colors. My reason is that I've seen more model trains, photos, and videos of 2101 as a Chessie System steamer rather than American Freedom Train. Plus, it's been so long since this locomotive has had a fresh coat of paint. Also, many of the pieces at the B&O Museum are of CSX Heritage.

we have 2101, 2102, and 2124, all saw action. 2101 went under C&O colors for the Chessie steam special. We have C&O 614 which did run. So maybe leaving it AFT aint so bad. Perhaps the only remnant from the freedom train, wonder where the cars went?

I know a certain orange 4-8-4 out west would beg to differ.

Its back in SP colors 8-P

but just as a reminder...



and then...





personally I was aghast that 2101 was restored, I knew about 2102 ad shot film of it on trips, and listened to 2124 recordings of its railfan trips, but then here comes 2101.

That Chessie scheme certainly is beautiful!

Agreed on the paint scheme. CSX needs to do "something" like this...their current tv campaign while informative with regard to the truck vs train/fuel usage issue, leaves me cold...

Stephen