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In 2002 K-LINE Electric Trains, in association with the Museum of America's Freedom Trains, produced a very special addition to K-LINE's O-Gauge model of The American Freedom Train. K-LINE's 11th display car, # MAFT111. The panels and shadowboxes that graced the sides of the American Freedom Train's ten display cars each showcased a decade of America's history. Were the American Freedom Train still around in 2002, one could have said it was time for another display car... And so it was that a special 11th display car was designed with panels and shadowboxes illustrating two more decades of American life. Designed by museum member Todd Schannuth, the four images closely followed the precedents set by the original 40 panels and shadowboxes; items and events were not chosen for how significant they were upon their first inception, but on how significant they had become by the time the American Freedom Train was built. Each contains images from our heritage in politics, technology, innovation, art, culture and history. Like the original 10 display cars, each side has two panels, each depicting a decade in American history. The new car has panels depicting the decades 1976-1986 and 1986-1996. The panel for the decade 1976-1986 depicts the following: -- The symbol of the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. (The American Freedom Train was, itself, an official Bicentennial Event.) -- President Jimmy Carter flanked by Israel's Menachem Begin and Egypt's Anwar Sadat at the US-brokered Camp David Accords, creating a peace treaty between the two Middle-Eastern lands. -- The rather immortal image of President Ronald Reagan in his cowboy hat. The panel for the decade 1986-1996 depicts the following: -- The official portrait of William Jefferson Clinton, 42nd President of the United States. (The original 40 panels depict virtually every president since FDR, and these panels purposely follow suit.) -- The debut of the B-2 "Stealth" bomber, representing the zenith of technology, might, and controversy. -- General H. "Stormin'" Norman Schwarzkopf and troops salute President George H. W. Bush at the close of the 1991 Gulf War. The shadowbox for the decade 1976-1986 contains the following: -- The debut of America's Space Transportation System, the Space Shuttle, in 1981. -- The Viking I Lander on the surface of Mars, July 20, 1976 (while the American Freedom Train was in Scranton, PA.) -- The humble advent of the home computer. The shadowbox for the decade 1986-1996 contains the following: -- The Statue of Liberty on the night of her 100th anniversary, July 4, 1986, after a multi-million dollar restoration; set against a New York skyline that has become so much more significant than it seemed on that day in '86. Pictured at top: The fireman's side (left side) of the car. At bottom: the opposite side. Click here for a large pic from K-LINE's 2002 Second Edition Catalog, page 24 Click here for a large pic from K-LINE's 2002 Second Edition Catalog, page 25 |
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