Tuesday, May 21, 2013

A few mementos of the American Freedom Train in 1976 that I saved when I saw it in 1976.






The American Freedom Train was a big part of the 200th birthday celebration of American Independence. It traveled from coast to coast and had everything in it about American history that you could imagine.  Everything was there from the documents dealing with the Louisiana Purchase, Martin Luther King's pulpit, Jack Benny's violin, a moon rock, and about 1000 other items. It had a moving sidewalk within it and that made you move through it far faster than one would like too. But I was there in Morris Plains, even though the ticket said Morristown, to see this great part of the bicentennial.  

I had gone with some friends 2 days before to see the train come in and sadly it was 4 hours late. We brought a case of beer for us all and we consumed it. So it was up to the one light drinker to get us back. For the rest of us were feeling no pain.  We spent 6 hours at that railroad crossing. Even though later I would see the train, I would never see it moving. But it was a big event, So everyone wanted to see it.




On July 25, I went there with some friends and we saw it all. It was parked on the grounds of the Warner Lambert company of Morris Plains. I bought a ticket and a souvenir booklet. Which I packed away and just recently found. So nearly 37 years after the event I can share a little of it.