Re: NNG Freedom Train - #4449's Caretaker

Daylight99 Wrote:
===================================
> You can thank the Freedom Train for us
> having #4449 operational today, along
> with the person that looked after her all
> those years sitting in the park.


His name was Jack Holst, IIRC -

There's a plaque affixed to #4449's backhead as a memorial to him and his foresight.  He kept the lubricator filled, and once a month or so went down to Oaks Park and gave the crank a turn or two to keep critical parts oiled.

The nationwide tour of the American Freedom Train - and the successful restorations of the engines that pulled her - sparked several more locomotive restorations in the years that followed.  Mike Mangini (instigator of Project 2472 / GGRM) and Larry Wines (instigator of Project 3751 / SBRHS) were fellow volunteers on the AFT loco maintenance crew.

- Roosso