Almost 58 years ago, on June 5 1948 the Freedom Train called on Springfield, and my mom with probably her first and only railroad pictures, recorded the event. Strictly speaking, it's not a true Frisco event, but the war-weary nation needed to celebrate its accomplisments of WWII, and the Frisco helped the cause. See the following URL's to read more about this historic train. http://www.northeast.railfan.net/1947freedom.html http://www.freedomtrain.org/main.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Freedom_Train_-_1947-1949_station_stops Not only did the train carry the great documents of the American experience, such as the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, Constitution, Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address, and the WWII Surrender documents, it also carried an original copy of the Magna Carta. Although a second Freedom Train ran during 1976, (pulled ironically by steam locomotives) these great documents will never be placed in such close proximity to the American people as they were during 1947-1949.
