American Freedom Train Livery Return. Reading 2101, a Class T-1 4-8-4 Northern, spent about a decade in regular operations after the Reading Company built the T-1 class using components from older Class I-10sa 2-8-0 Consolidation locomotives. Retired from revenue service in the mid-1950s, the locomotive was eventually rescued from a Baltimore scrapyard. It found a second life in 1975, spending 21 months pulling the eastern section of the American Freedom Train as AFT 1, followed by a third life leading Chessie Steam Specials for the 150th anniversary of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, the oldest common carrier railroad in the United States. After suffering severe damage in a 1979 roundhouse fire, the locomotive was cosmetically restored to its patriotic livery and transferred to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. For decades, it sat on the outdoor display tracks near the parking lot, exactly as it was seen 19 years ago today on June 29, 2007. On October 21, 2023, RDG 2101 was moved into the museum's workshop for a comprehensive cosmetic restoration. Work was completed earlier this year for the 250th anniversary of the United States, and a public unveiling of the locomotive in its restored patriotic livery was held on January 12, 2026.
Full resolution pics and prints:
https://www.riverrailphoto.com/borail/e5a921812