Link: https://thefederalist.com/2025/12/19/will-amtrak-let-american-freedom-train-roll/

"The American Freedom Train...has asked Amtrak Charter Services to let it pay for services and thereby acquire the insurance it needs to get on the tracks. Those putting on the Freedom Train would provide the steam locomotives (five have been lined up), an engineer and fireman, train cars (nine have been lined up), a full-time mechanic and electrician, all other necessary equipment, and fuel. The train wouldn’t be stopped and displayed on tracks that Amtrak uses; instead, it would be displayed on regional tracks and therefore wouldn’t disrupt Amtrak’s passenger service. And the Freedom Train would pay the going rate to Amtrak, asking no favors despite being an effort to honor the nation’s 250th anniversary. All the American Freedom Train needs is for Amtrak to accept payment to move the 11-car celebratory train between display cities — about one trip per week — on a low-priority, non-peak-hours basis. This means that Amtrak could move the train whenever it wants, including in the middle of the night."

Please pardon my confusion, but is this request with Amtrak Charter Services to provide the train with insurance to operate or just permission to operate on Amtrak-owned routes? If its only to operate on Amtrak-owned routes, then this need is not essential. I mean I'm sure it would be convenient to use Amtrak, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker in some cases.

This ambitious plan still feels intentionally vague with some deatils. 50 years ago the Freedom Train was already operating across the country. It looks like 2100 hasn't hit its projected cmpletion date of the end of 2025. Perhaps it would be wise to arrange some backup diesel power?

+ crews.



An editorial isn't a formal announcement.

What Freedom Train? The only serious proposal I heard was from Ross, and it never caught on and obviously he's not pursuing it any further.

What's the story on this one? Is it related to Reading 2100 and Project 250?

Based on who is pushing this I suspect it'll be another empty promise.

I have yet to see anyone PROMISE anything.

"Largely the brainchild of John Wayne, the 1970s American Freedom Train helped energize a fractured nation."

John Wayne did what now?

"The American Freedom Train, which I have been helping to advance in an unpaid capacity for the better part of a year..."

So, the author is organizing this? Lets see who he is...

"Jeffrey H. Anderson is president of the American Main Street Initiative and served as director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2017 to 2021."

So, he has zero ties to railroads. I can see why he thinks this would be so simple to pull off in 2026.

"(five have been lined up), an engineer and fireman, train cars (nine have been lined up)"

Does anyone have any information on what has been lined up? Nobody has said a word anywhere about participating or not, other than the 2100. I would love to know who has hot engines for this. Off the top of my head, I can think of five big enough. The two Santa Fe Northerns SP&S 700, RBM 2102, and N&W 611. Then there's 765 and 1225, of course. I can't think of any others.

My problem is, where is the ground swell for this? It can be created, but organizations across the country need to bring this to the attention of their followers and members. Not just some guy with the American Mainstream Initiative. And it can be done, especially in this day and age of going viral. But it needs to happen now and not later.

My two cents, for what they're worth

MS

Union Pacific has already hinted at a possible "coast to coast" run for Big Boy 4014, contingent on the NS merger proposal or not. I do not see that as likely AFT III fodder, but nothing precludes, say, UP 844 (or, for that matter, 3985 at Silvis) from running in 2026 aside from hostility by other railroads and potential clearance issues (and in the case of 3985 or any other contender, enough gobs of money thrown at it fast enough--remember the much-hyped "28 day" restoration of Reading 2101 in 1975.....).



No. It needed to happen at least a year ago. In 2025 it takes loads of time to bring all the pieces together, from sponsorship to the locomotive(s) to trackage rights to display cars(?) to artifacts to display(?) to scheduling to manpower. Ross Rowland tried at least twice in the 1990s with "all the time in the world" and abjectly failed. You can't just go to the shrink wrap sign shop and have them print up cladding for an AFT III; there's FAR more to it than that.
Anything thrown together at this late date will be a half-a**ed hack job compared to the 1975-76 operation.

I think AFT 250 was a toss of bait in the water to pull in the late Ross Rowland and draw in conservative oriented support. A great deal of that political nonsense has lost its glimmer, and the assumption that patriotic demand will make it happen is unfounded.

My personal hope would be to restore the locomotive in Reading territory as Reading 2100, period. Pair her with operating sister or find rails upon which she can strut her stuff. The steam locomotive experience seems to be thriving in the mid-west these days. Go with the flow in my opinion, which was neither asked for nor based in facts.

I'm a huge fan of Reading T-1's. In the past 50+ years I've worked on 3 of the 4 survivors.

Even so, I'm not sure what benefit there would be to having a second Reading T-1 in the Reading scheme.

You have Reading 2124 at Steamtown, recently cosmetically restored and nicely done.
Reading 2102 at R&BM looks close enough to original for me, with all the work they've done they certainly deserve to put their own logo on the tender.

They're the logical place to run a second one, but is it truly logical? T-hogs take a lot of care and feeding and having a second one adds a lot of expense with dubious value. They already run long exurcursion runs, what's the advanatage of adding another?

2100 will look good as AFT 250, whether it travels off line or not. In a few years they can paint to a different scheme, look how many paint jobs SP 4449 has worn over the years.

Bob, how nice it was to have an exchange of different ideas without two people calling each other names or deriding the other's intelligence. Given this precedent, I'm happy to entertain your thoughts on the matter.

-Richard