PRPX 111

Like the Crew Car, PRPX 111 was built for the New York Central and has since changed hands numerous times. It also has something of a claim to fame: it was a member of the 1976 American Freedom Train that toured the US for the nation's bicentennial. In all it has been quite well used. It has seen all 48 contiguous states and every province of Canada with rails. It has made at least five complete transcontinental trips across two nations. It has had four complete careers and survived two retirements, rolling almost continuously for over 50 years. The car was acquired by the PRPA for the purpose of converting it into a rolling machine shop, but current efforts are focused on making the car secure so that we can store our lesser used tools and materials through the upcoming move to our new home and possibly beyond.

• 1946 - Built by American Car and Foundry (ACF) as one of dozens of similar cars for the New York Central.
• 1968 - Transferred to the newly formed Penn Central, the product of the consolidation of the New York Central and its former archrival, the Pennsylvania Railroad.
• 1975 - Converted for use on the American Freedom Train, along with 15 other cars, and designated AFTX 111. The American Freedom Train covered 25,833 miles from April 1, 1975 to January 31, 1976 on its journey to all 48 contiguous states, playing host to over seven million visitors. The train carried with it over 500 artifacts significant in the shaping of our country. Among them were such varied items as George Washington's copy of the Constitution, the original Louisiana Purchase, Judy Garland's dress from the Wizard of Oz, Joe Frazier's boxing trunks, Martin Luther King's pulpit and robes, and even a rock from the moon. If you visited the American Freedom Train, you walked through half of car 111—as did Hank Aaron, Buzz Aldrin, Walter Mondale, Alf Landon, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, the Apollo-Soyuz Cosmonauts, John Wayne, Lady Bird Johnson, and dozens of other luminaries. Car 111 served as the "exit" car on the American Freedom Train and was also one of two cars supplying electrical power for the train's special exhibit cars. Visit freedomtrain.org's AFTX 111 page for historic photos and additional information.
• 1977 - Sold to the National Museums of Canada for use on their Discovery Train, along with much of the rest of the American Freedom Train. Car 111 played the same role on the Discovery Train that it had on the American Freedom Train—it was the exit car for visitors and the power car for the trainset.
• 1978-1980 - While on the Discovery Train, car 111 toured every accessible province of Canada and came within 600 miles of the Arctic Circle at Churchill, Manitoba, the "polar bear capital" of Canada. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians passed through car 111 on their tour through the Discovery Train.
• 1981? - Sold to the Union Pacific Railroad along with most of the rest of the Discovery Train. Eventually, all but the two power cars were scrapped (there are reports that the other power car has also fallen to the scrapper's torch). Former AFTX 111 became UP 206, spending many years in power car service on Union Pacific's elite yellow business trains.  The car currently retains its UP lettering.
• 2001 (or 2002) - Car 111 became the property of David Varilek.
• 2004 - Ownership transferred to the PRPA, moved to Portland, and renumbered to PRPX 111.

The material above was supplied by Todd Schannuth.