US Semiquincentennial

[Ol Paint]

The US hits the quarter-milennium mark in 2026.  Here is a thread to discuss things related to the anniversary.  

Doug

[Ol Paint]

To lead things off, during the Bicentennial, one of the things done to commemorate the occasion was the Freedom Train.  

The Union Pacific is looking at running the 4-8-8-4 Big Boy across the country for the 250th:

Quote

https://www.trains.com/pro/freight/class-i/union-pacific-plans-to-send-the-big-boy-from-coast-to-coast-for-americas-250th/

OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific plans to send Big Boy No. 4014 on a transcontinental trip next year as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations.

“I want to run Big Boy across the country,” CEO Jim Vena told Trains on Thursday.

Vena says that he’s had discussions with Norfolk Southern CEO Mark George about hosting what would be the Big Boy’s first trip in the East since the 4-8-8-4 rolled out of the Alco plant in Schenectady, N.Y., in 1941.

UP is working through the details of operating the 1.2-million pound locomotive off of home rails, including timing of the trip and whether the 4014 would head west from its Cheyenne, Wyo., base to Oakland, Calif., first or steam east.

Either way, the goal would be to run the Big Boy from coast to coast.

“It is a little complicated,” Vena says. “But I think it would be a great, great historical movement for America’s 250th birthday … to move that steam engine, the biggest operating steam engine in the world, across the country. I think it’d be real cool.”

UP retired No. 4014 on Dec. 7, 1961, and donated the locomotive to the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, which put the Big Boy on display at the Rail Giants Train Museum in Pomona, Calif. UP reacquired No. 4014 in 2013. It was moved to the UP Steam Shop in Cheyenne, where it was restored to operating condition. The Big Boy returned to service in 2019 in time for the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad.

In celebration of the U.S. bicentennial in 1976, Ross Rowland assembled the American Freedom Train, which barnstormed across the country behind steam from April 1, 1975 through 1976. The 26-car train was hauled by three different steam locomotives as it visited all 48 contiguous states: Former Reading 4-8-4 No. 2101, former Southern Pacific 4-8-4 No. 4449, and former Texas & Pacific 2-10-4 No. 610.

It'd be interesting to see if the N&W J 611 or SP 4449 will participate or do something similar.  

The UP has also announced intent to file merger paperwork with Norfolk Southern by Dec 1 this year.

Doug

[Tim the Tank Nut]

that would be something to see!!

[DKTanker]

Fifty years ago a group of bicyclists, encouraged by the excitement of the Bicentennial, created a series of mapped routes across the nation.  These routes were to utilize roads that optimally saw less than 10 motor vehicles per hour.  One could choose to cycle the entire transcontinental route, half the continent, or any number of smaller one week routes.  Groups would number from 8-12 individuals, and riders would carry all their worldly possessions with them on their bicycles.  They would average from 50-75 miles every day and camp at reserved sites along the way.  16 year old me met up with 8 strangers in a one room school house in Astoria, Oregon and then spent the next 45 days making some life long friendships while we crossed the Cascade Mountains, the high desert of eastern Oregon, the Rocky Mountains of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, finally descending to the front range and western plains at Pueblo, Colorado.

Sadly, the national excitement I observed starting in 1974 through July 1976 is completely absent fifty years hence.

Side note:  I will not be replicating my summer of 1976 adventure.

[bojan]

Wow, that was some cycling. Even 50 miles on flat terrain every day is not a joke, let alone crossing mountains.

[DKTanker]

12 minutes ago, bojan said:

Wow, that was some cycling. Even 50 miles on flat terrain every day is not a joke, let alone crossing mountains.

The oldest two in our group was a married couple in their 50s.  While they were usually the first to leave the campsite, and the last to pull into the next, they both rode the entire way and pulled their own weight.

[Stargrunt6]

3 hours ago, DKTanker said:

Fifty years ago a group of bicyclists, encouraged by the excitement of the Bicentennial, created a series of mapped routes across the nation.  These routes were to utilize roads that optimally saw less than 10 motor vehicles per hour.  One could choose to cycle the entire transcontinental route, half the continent, or any number of smaller one week routes.  Groups would number from 8-12 individuals, and riders would carry all their worldly possessions with them on their bicycles.  They would average from 50-75 miles every day and camp at reserved sites along the way.  16 year old me met up with 8 strangers in a one room school house in Astoria, Oregon and then spent the next 45 days making some life long friendships while we crossed the Cascade Mountains, the high desert of eastern Oregon, the Rocky Mountains of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, finally descending to the front range and western plains at Pueblo, Colorado.

Sadly, the national excitement I observed starting in 1974 through July 1976 is completely absent fifty years hence.

Side note:  I will not be replicating my summer of 1976 adventure.

And the irony? Bicycles are incredible these days. And now there's e-bikes.

[Rick]

FWIW I donated my 1974 Schwinn "LeTour" last year to charity. First vehicle I bought with money I earned.  Rode a lot of southern Shelby County, Indiana miles on that bike.

[Mr King]

10 minutes ago, Rick said:

FWIW I donated my 1974 Schwinn "LeTour" last year to charity. First vehicle I bought with money I earned.  Rode a lot of southern Shelby County, Indiana miles on that bike.

I had a really nice Schwinn I bought as a kid when they were still American made. $700 bike back in 1990 or so. My family did a lot of biking together as a hobby. Later I graduated high school and went to Florida with my mom and brother. When we got back I went to ride on my bike and found my bike had been stolen. A family member, don't know who, had left the garage door that faced an alleyway open at some point while I was gone, and someone had walked off with my bike. Really bummed me out. I loved that bike. Was the first big purchase I had ever made. 

[Murph]

I vote on doing everything that causes the America hating Democrats heads to explode.