America's awkward propaganda express - Freedom Train 1947-49
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- Опубліковано 16 вер 2024
- In this video, we take a look at the Freedom train of 1947, that promoted the totally un-bias messages of the US
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This video falls under the fair use act of 1976 This video is available to use under the appropriate Creative Commons Licence.
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Oh boy, I sure do love making videos on train facts, I hope my audience understands that and doesn't become a full blown political debate in the comments
Stick with just train facts and don’t involve politics in them, John Bull.
Admit it, you were hoping for a full-on comment flame war right from the start
@@Mason58654 did his video upset you, you can name nothing he said that was incorrect, you are just upset he mentioned it.
Dont you hate it when two locomotives become racist to each other?
@@Mason58654 you're the only person in the comments upset. Cope.
Politics apart, the idea of a "museum on rails" does not sounds that bad.
You should look up the Art Train.
@@PaulfromChicago or discovery canada train
Union Pacific kind of did this with their Big Boy 4014 tour, though it’s probably more of an advertising train it did talk about it’s history as a railroad
Or a library...
The EU did a similar thing for the year of rail travel. Though it wasn't so much a train as a bunch of cars parked at various stations with exhibits detailing the plans the EU and local governments had to improve and prioritize rail travel more.
Also kinda reminds me of the library busses my city used to have before the single right wing mayor ever elected here got rid of them. They were literally just a bus filled with books inside that you could lend and they'd drive around the city. It was a great idea that I loved as a child because it was so much fun to browse the books inside whenever they came around. I imagine they were also a great help for more vulnerable families that might have a harder time actually visiting a library, that wasn't the case for my family though I imagine my parents still appreciated the convenience.
In 1947, the US organized a train to collect donations to help the French get back on their feet in the aftermath of WWII. This was called the Friendship Train.
In thanks for this, the French Government organized a train of their own full of French goods which they sent to the US, with each car being decked out in the livery of the Departments of France. This was called the "Merci Train".
Of the 49 sent over, 45 are still around iirc
It sounds funnier in italian, since "merci" is literally "freight".
@@gab_v250 Merci is also really good chocolate!
I remember my father telling me about that when I was a kid, when we saw one of the carriages at B&O Museum. Seems France always knows the perfect gifts for the US!
Merci train is technically correct in multiple languages
If you allow accents
Ironic, a train designed to show how free America was actually became the poster child of the exact opposite.
Beeg oof
Maybe because the US isn't actually that free?
@@mattevans4377 Precisely that.
@@mattevans4377 Wasn't*
Sure, we had our issues, but things today are significantly better... now if the Feds would just get out of the way and let people live their lives without coddling, things would be even better.
@@Tank50us You smoking shredded plastic or something there?
You: the 1947-49 Freedom Train
The guy she tells you not to worry about: the 1975-76 Freedom Train
russianbadger what are you doing here?
It's odd how the railways are still a metaphor for how unfair and imbalanced america is, but for completely different reasons nowadays
You keep believing the propaganda of how bad America is right now all you want. Just shows how bad your indoctrination is.
And yet, it’s also always been this way at the same time.
Freight over people
"whaddaya mean I shouldn't drive mah Ford f150???"
@@Its_PacFan Wimpy eurotrash.
As a US citizen I can confirm the average person is treated poorly by the federal government.
As a US citizen, I can confirm this is because we're taught to distrust the government and therefore don't give the government enough power to treat us well. Voters don't even want the government to provide health care (except to the elderly).
fuck the feds all my homies hate the feds for mistreating the common man and countless other groups
As in "person"?
That just screams freedom.
Why don't you leave?
As a Spanish speaker, I spit out my tea at 5:25.
Same 😂
Yeah, that was hilarious.
As a non-Spanish speaker, but someone who knows a few words, the same.
@@mirzaahmed6589 It gets funny when you learn actual Spanish speakers, (at least from the Caribbean islands), actually refer to black people as "Morenos/Morenas".
"Moreno/a" comes from "Moor" as in the old Medieval title for European Muslims, or the medieval title for Black Europeans believed to have migrated from Mauritania. (Willian Shakesphere's *Othello* was described as a Moor)
In Spanish "Negro/Negra", (at least Caribbean culture) is just the literal name of the color of black.
Although calling someone "-un hombre negro" (-A black man) or describing someone as "-un niña negra" (-a black girl) looks weird in conversation, but it's not considered rude amongst the western Spanish-speaking nations.
@@MainMite06.
In Argentina (and also Uruguay if my memory serves me correctly), “Negrito” and “Negrita” are used as terms of endearment; my mum and her cousins would refer to each other as “negrita” in their youth. They’re all white, in case you’re wondering.
And of course, the literal translation of “black”.
Never heard someone refer to ALCO by its initials. Normally it's pronounced: "Alco" like an actual word.
I knew I wasn't the only one 😅
@@thetrainguy1But he's British and they didn't have Alcos and they only got GMs at the end of the twentieth century. The had Sulzer and English Electric.
It's true. We Americans have quite a lot of trouble playing up the "freedom" part to its absolute. That may or may not be an understatement.
I see it as an ideal to strive for, a sort of national goal we need to fight together for.
On the other hand, we have no trouble playing up the freedumb part . . . .
Freedom is never free.
@@garryferrington811 Whoever said that must be a chronic Goal Post Shifter.
@@NessWithABeard I'm pretty sure that saying started as a way of remembering fallen soldiers, but I could be wrong.
3:20
A L C O lol.
While it is an acronym for American Locomotive Company, it's said as just one word 'alco', not as an acronym.
just found that funny
I know this is pedantic, but "alco" as one word _would_ be an acronym; you're thinking of an initialism.
@@TotoDG Ah, didn't know that, i thought saying letters individually was an acronym.
@@madmanthan21.
That's okay, it's a fairly common misconception. Not a lot of people even know what an initialism is, let alone the difference between that and an acronym.
Understandable mistake because in British English, initialiams are written in all caps, while only the first letter of an acronym is capitalized (BBC, CIA, Nasa, Alco).
@@kkobayashi1 Used to be (at least where I am, which isn't the UK) that initialisms would be written B.B.C., C.I.A., and so on, while acronyms ('big names'... basically, reading only the capitalised letters of the name as if they were a name themselves) were written in unpunctuated all caps NASA (National Aero-Space Agency, but reading only the caps), ALCO, etc.
Of course, this is made difficult by the USA frequently creating names that aren't Strictly the properly capitalised letters of words. Like you get "STRATCOM" for STRATegic COMand... except you'd just right that as 'Stragtegic Command', it's neither an acronym nor an initialism, and writing it in all caps is just kind of odd.
5:25 that caught me so off guard lol
"Let us look back, then, on the Freedom Train as a time capsule-a little timestamp of the views and beliefs publicly held and encouraged at the time. Sure it was a bit sexist and a bit more racist, but I suppose that's just how the world was back then. At least, going forward, we can confidently say that displays like the Freedom Train are a thing of the past. It's not like America would ever downplay Black history, workers' rights, and define people's lives for them nowadays, right?"
Mmm. I like my cutting introspection like I take my martini-very _dry._ Nice work.
I had a history professor that explained the late 1949s and early 1950s as this: "It was a great time in America, if you're white."
So was Britain, so Was Russia, so was Germany, so was every other white country. Your point being?
Not saying I can read the mind of your professor, but I doubt he’d say it’s any better now.
@@illbehim actually the late 40s and early 50s were pretty crap for everyone in Britain, Russia and the Germanies. Not to say racism didn't exist, of course it did, but the US was relatively unique economically speaking.
@@MainlyHuman Oh, so it's okay to downplay YOUR country's past, but not mine! Got it!
@@illbehim not sure how you came to that conclusion, it's historical fact. The US experienced an economic boom following the war that was not shared by European nations. But thanks to the deep segregation in the US the benefits of that boom were not shared evenly. And that segregation was state sponsored in many places, as mentioned in the video.
An episode of the Wrexall Million Dollar Train would be fun, it was so unique to see a railroad advertisement
He already did it. Also, it's spelled Rexall.
@@mirzaahmed6589 he hasn't yet
The second Freedom Train was better, and not just because it brought the Daylight out of retirement.
They also did a tour along similar principles during the late 80s in Japan, an EF60 loco with older coaches painted white with blue and red striping. "The American Train" toured for a while and seems to have lasting memories for the nation's train fans. There's even model trains in N scale of the train itself that come up for sale now and again.
An excellent video! One extra little detail I thought I’d mention is that during America’s Bicentennial celebration, a second Freedom Train, created by American Broker Ross Rowland, called the American Freedom Train, ran for America’s Bicentennial between 1975-1976. From what I’ve learned about the AFT, the train was intended to be more of a celebration of American Culture, but considering the time period it ran during, it’s hard to argue that it was also a propaganda piece.
While I didn't see the original Freedom Train in 1947(I came along 12 years later),I did see the 1976 version when she steamed through Flatonia on her way back to Portland behind #4449 in May 1977.
Tip, the engine wasnt a A-L-C-O, it was a company, Alco.
Also it's most of the time it's pronounced like al-co
@@Salvacottontail That's what Streetcar said.
You hit the nail on the head with this one. I grew up in the 1950s and saw segregated water fountains and restrooms in the American South. But I had a sense after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed that we were "on track," so to speak. In the 1970s, IIRR, there was talk of the "New South" and greater racial tolerance, and some evidence of it too! So, I find it quite discouraging that we have regressed so badly. So much so that I don't even mind a Brit pointing it out!! Also, thanks so much for educating me about the "Freedom Train!" I had no idea it existed. Is it a coincidence that the overwhelming color of the train is white?
The white colour was probably to make the red and blue stand out
the symbol on the side also kinda looks suspiciously similar to a certain eagle used by a facist dictator in germany....
I never learned about this Freedom Train, I only really knew about the Bicentennial one. I always thought this one was to celebrate the USA's "victory" in WWII
WHOOOOO BOY was I wrong. Also find it rather ironic they chose an ALCo PA for this train. That's probably the last time before Amtrak that non-EMD passenger diesels had nationwide attention
Do the Union Pacific centennial’s count? I think they were at least mildly famous. Then again they were made literally right before Amtrak started so maybe they wouldn’t count since they were basically contemporaries of early Amtrak.
3:15 I think that is the first time I've ever heard anyone spell out the acronym for Alco as A L C O
The 1975 - 1976 Freedom Train, however, was a much greater success, from what I have read at least
A video on Steam Turbine locomotives would be cool.
The GT3 is the coolest looking turbine engine (Yes I know it's gas not steam) and is one of my favorite trains. Shame they only built one and scrapped it.
I'd like to see more stuff like this on how trains were used to influence cullture and the vice versa. Good stuff.
I'm pleased to hear that Memphis and Birmingham missed out because they couldn't put aside their beliefs.
I first learned about this train from the final episode of "I Love Toy Trains"
I don't remember the segment exactly, but I know for a fact that all the unfavorable history was glossed over lmao
I believe that the “I Love Toy Trains” segment was highlighting the American Freedom Train, which ran in the 1970’s to celebrate the bicentennial
@@cedarpointfan5 yes but that was in part 12, Jeff covered the 1947 train in the final show
@@yeoldeseawitch oh that makes sense. I had the Parts 10, 11, and 12 DVDs. Watched the crap out of them lol
@@cedarpointfan5 yeah me too lmao
3:22 My dumba*s was about to comment “Don’t you mean 50 states?” Before remembering that Alaska and Hawaii weren’t states at the time.
And the challenges of getting the train to Alaska, let alone Hawaii.
Simple: barge from the lower 48 to Alaska. That's how the Alaska Railroad got equipment up there, not to mention many other mining and logging railroads.
"The Good Citizen" exhibit... just hearing the title made me roll my eyes. This level of propaganda is literally the same level as films made in the Soviet Union. Yeah, maybe it had good intent, but blah blah road to hell blah blah blah.
Hope you do a part two with the Freedom Train '76
I'm a lifelong American and somewhat of a train enthusiast, and this is the first time I've ever heard of this Freedom Train. Thanks for posting this video.
Oddly "Rapido Trains" does the PA for it in HO scale.
@@richardsweeney197 yes
A point you may have missed is that a song was written for the project too.
Irving Berlin penned the lyrics in an afternoon and Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters were brought in to record.
It's a decent, and catchy track, with lyrics that current Republicans would have issues with, but generally cover what the train was selling.
I honestly didn't realise that there was an actual train related to the song. I learnt something today.
This song was also recorded by an all-star group that included the Pied Pipers, Peggy Lee, Margaret Whiting, Johnny Mercer and Benny Goodman. You can find both of these on UA-cam along with a different song for a similar 1975-‘76 Bicenntenial train.
My question is, why was this idea put forward by the attorney general of all people?
In general, I think that the American false self-image of a free and democratic country is still very persistent to this day.
Did you know that the U.S. only ranks 15th in terms of the human freedom score, 26th on the rule of law index and 35th on the democracy index?
The U.S. is neither particularly free, nor particularly democratic or a particularly good rule of law.
So what's the top country in all of these?
@@LegoWormNoah101 Switzerland is number one for freedom, Denmark has the best rule of law and democracy.
Also, Dennmark is number three for freedom.
Random, arbitrary stats produced by globalists with nothing better to do means very little to me.
What's the first country on the list?
Yours ain't so great either!
We in the US usually pronounce ALCO as it’s spelled, not as an acronym.
You should a Video on the 1976 Freedom Train as well. It saw the return of several steam locomotive including Southern Pacific 4449. Southern Pacific 4449 was also the only operational version of the GS-4 Class Daylight.
If you need to remind people of how free they are, then they probably aren't as free as you want them to think.
So, the Freedom Train in 1976 was something different? This is the first time I heard of another so-called "Freedom Train." The one in 76 had Martin Luther King's robe and pulpit on display.
Man, I love this channel
Love the videos man. The sarcasm at the end was a nice touch!
Quick query about 5:25. The Spanish word for black is negro, is this considered offensive? I know [the n word] certainly is, but I would have assumed the word negro is only outdated (I only hear it occasionly from older generations or in older print/multimedia), but not explicitly offensive, and means an African American. I'm Australian by the way, so contextually, whether it's considered racist by some/most or not, we don't have much use for the word, or at least as much as for places with significant African American populations, so I hope that explains any potential faux pas. I remember in To Kill a Mockingbird Atticus corrected Scout with something like, "Say negro instead of [the n word] because that isn't polite" (or something similar). To take one step further, some people would even go as far as to say that the word black is racist, but post-BLM I don't think that is a prevailing view within the left anymore.
Iirc it was absolutely used in a racist context
The thing you quickly find is that English has a cycle where a particular Thing is deemed offensive, and therefore so is the word used to express it... so a euphemisim is created and used instead. Except, because only the Euphemism is ever used, it quickly just becomes the standard term... and so is itself promptly deemed offensive and replaced in turn, over and over and over.
Examples are highly controversial, naturally, because there's often (though not always) Heavy ideological elements to the process.
It's part of why there's a lot of things where English has a highly technical scientific word for whatever it is, and a word that's at best casual slang and at worst just flat out offensive for it... and no neutral term in between.
You'll also possibly find there's some UA-cam algorithm whatsit that might black mark the video when certain words are narrated. No idea of course, but with all the mechanisms that UA-cam has bordering on alchemy it sounds plausible?
An n&w a class once pulled a circus train
ToT I spent a solid minute staring at the thumbnail wondering what in the unholy heck a "dom train" was 💀💀💀😭😭😭
I've actually heard of this train before (thanks Lionel)
Now that I've seen this it's living horror to see how disgusting my home country was. While it has somewhat improved, nowadays the US gets negative publicity because of racist/sexist people, as well as people stereotyping us to be dumb when it comes to history. If I'm being honest, the 1975-76 AFT did a better job at connecting the country together than this.
Another brilliantly informative video! Well done!
Can we have one about the 1976 Freedom Train?
P R O P A G A N D A
3:12 Alco is always pronounced like a word, not the letters A-L-C-O individually.
Thankfully the 2nd attempt at the Freedom Train was much more successful
People should remember to compare Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union to 1940s America not modern America
Until now, the only Freedom Train I knew about was the one that toured during the Bicentennial.
I think in theory, a freedom train to represent the freedom of a nation is a good idea. The problem is that you can't really fully know what is going to be right or wrong 100 or so years from now so you are never going to pleas everyone. All we can do is treat others equally and with respect no matter where they come from or what they want to call themselves. Just keep things decent and share the love of train's. I think that would solve a lot of previous issues.
_"Right?" _*_fade out_*
oof lmao
Man pronounced ALCo as "A-L-C-O"
It's pronounced as a word :)
When I saw early in the video that the Heritage Foundation was in on putting together the Freedom Train, I knew this wasn't going to turn out well.
Atleast Ross Roland and the other people behind the American freedom train of 1975-1977 did learn from the mistakes of 40’s version and rectify them whilst also pulling off some incredible steam locomotive restorations and explanatory thinking in the process. Not to mention the civil rights movement had happened by then, thus freeing them up of more trouble the original experienced.
You didn’t pronounce ALCO right. ALCO isn’t a model designation, it’s short for the American locomotive company. And it’s not pronounced A-L-C-O it’s pronounced al-co like alcohol. But ill give you a pass since you’re not from here.
that train looks like my toothpaste
Everyone! (including train of thought) I think I know what happened to the locomotive, after the tour was finished, the engine was sold to the Gulf mobile and Ohio railroad as 292, she was one of just 3 alco PAs on the roster, but sadly, this locomotive is not around anymore as 292 was scrapped in the 1960's (probably 1967)
"ALCO PA Locomotive"
Alco is pronouced AL-ko and the locomotive is a Alco PA1, and in reality, Its a Alco-GE PA becuase in 1945 Alco (The American Locomotive Company) tWhich was highly known for steamers like UP 4014 aka the Big Boy among others partnered with GE to make luxery diesel locomotives for passenger and better freight units to keep up with rivals like Baldwin Locomotive Works who was partnered with Westinghouse as well GMC with thier EMD (Electro-Motive Division, now its Electro-Motive Diesel under CAT).
As soon as the PA came out, almost every railroad wanted one so hundreds of preorders were made, sadly though, to make deadline GE cut corners on the eletrical side of the engine which caused MASSIVE back lash from the railroads becuase the corner cuttting caused massive issues for the locomotive.
In the end, GE went off on thier own to make Locomotives and Alco tried again with the PA2 which was a improved verion id the floped PA1 but it was too late no one wanted it. by 1970, Alco was no more.
The republican/confederate train.
Assepecially the idea of the "good citizen" 2:06
Insert political debate here.
Great video! Btw, ALCO is commonly said like a word, like Al-ko
I personally love the design of this train.
This feels something out of the Fallout series on the pre-war america.
Wasn't Fallout supposed to be set in the 50s and 60s during the cold War?
@@420sakura1 it was an alternate history, basically set at the time it came out, but diverged in WW2
@@kaitlyn__L alright
I love how you described how we won wwii 😂
Conformity is Democracy. That's worthy of Orwell.
Now I have to wonder, how did the Freedom Train fair in 1975-76?
It would’ve been awkward if this train carrying so many important American historical artifacts you know, crashed and burned
it was carrying copies, the Archives weren't stupid enough to put on the actual things
@@Tank50us unfortunately, they were originals.
At least the train itself looked cool.
Do a video about the MÁV 601
huh. Now I wonder if the other American Freedom Train tours were also like this
well, ross rowland (the guy who managed the whole thing) is a massive sexist and racist bigot as of now, probably was like that in the 70s too
As black person 5:25 is hilarious as I never before heard the idea of us being communist
The Bicentennial AFT in 1975-76 was miles better than what they had in 1947
Ok assuming that this train is 50 feet x 12 feet then this is perfect or I guess a hood ornament or I guess train ornament it’s way bigger than all semi trucks not to mention all of the other coaches adding to it’s massive length. 1:20
Wasn't there a nationwide railroad strike in 1947 which Truman broke.
Great vid ToT.
I never knew Americans having collective bargaining
I thought they had no rights in the workplace
well that sucks, but at least the one for the bicentennial was pretty cool
Man, those were…interesting times indeed
Division is good. It stops the government from ever being able to do anything. At least, that's the theory.
Wow. I never knew about this train (mainly because I'm not American) but that really was something.
Fascinating video
The Irving Berlin song was recorded by Capital Records and was performed by Johnny Mercer, Margaret Whiting, Peggy Lee, Benny Goodman, the Modernaires and the Paul Weston orchestra, all of whom were on staff at the time. The sheet music cover clearly depicted (3/4 view) the Alco PA-1 leading the train.
Correction: The Pied Pipers, not the Modernaires.
Thanks for the info on this train, always wondered about it
I won't get political or even historical. I'll just say it's a great-looking train.
Exhibition trains are incredibly interesting in and of themselves. NSW railways had Multiple exhibition trains including the "Great White Train" (1925 & 1926) which promoted people to buy Australian made, Royal Silver Jubilee Train Exhibition Train (1970's), the Australian Museum Train (1980s) which toured museum exhibits and the Historic Exhibition train (1980s) which celebrated the Bi-centenary (1988).
Add that to the list of other special trains in NSW trade school trains, Baby health clinic train, dental clinic carriage, Sheffield Conquest (they pumped a hand cart from Perth to Sydney), The South Australian "Tea and Sugar" (A shop train that stopped off at towns on the trans-Australian Railway including a butcher, bank, shop) you could almost have an entire script on weird Australian and NSW trains.
The working class back then had higher standards of living than any country in the world. Funny how you forgot that
Yeah, but at what cost.
They did yes, but that it's rather noticeable today that the workers rights erasure was telling of what was to come.
The next fallout game should take inspiration from this.
A.L.C.O PA
You did not just say that... It's Al-co xD
One does not read the letter out when talking about Alco lol
I mean you're not technically wrong as it is an abbreviation for American Locomotive Company, but also you're wrong.
It's actually been pointed out now about 60 times... but thanks for the addition...
They did the Freedom Train another time in the 1970s, with S.P. Gs4 #4449, and Reading 2101. However, Reading 2101 was only put on static display due to the roundhouse fire, horribly damaging it. It was and still is basically a corpse of a locomotive. I may be wrong but the 1970s version may have done better.
I love the video However you hurt my brain when you said A L C O and not just alco
Tbh, I was kinda expecting to see the GS4 locomotive somewhere 🤷♂️
They had another Freedom Train in 1976 for the Bicentennial, I don't think it was as, um, "old-fashioned" in how they presented stuff.
Based train of thought
I will now not start any political debates by stating that bigotry of any form is bad
Are you also gonna cover the 1975-76 bicentennial freedom train tour at some point?
The original Freedom Train is little known as most recognize it as the train pulled by SP GS-4 4449. Either one you chose, it must have been a sight to go see for yourself. I am very fortunate to be American and to the US my home and I think they should try to do another Freedom Train now and I would volunteer for it in a heartbeat. ua-cam.com/video/0O11CXB6_UY/v-deo.html
i think you missed the point of the video...
@@protorandom9097 It's like that John Legend song, I accept America with all her past flaws and can appreciate all of her good qualities of life too.
Got SP #4449 in a kick ass if gaudy scheme later on at least
Back when society was done correctly.
Thank you!! I was always wondering what the hell this was!!