THE FREEDOM TRAIN In 1976 the United States was celebrating the bicentennial of its independence from Great Britain. On July 4, 1976 several New York City subway artists set out to acknowledge the nation's milestone in a very unique fashion. They would paint every car of entire subway train with elaborate bicentennial themes. It would be called "The Freedom Train". It would be only the second time in the history of subway writing that every car of a train would be painted at once. (JAPAN I was rumored to have painted a whole train around 1973.) The Freedom Train was painted in the Corona subway yard in Queens, which houses the IRT number 7 line. The Freedom Train did not make it into service as a complete unit. As the train was being pulled out of the yard, employees of the Transit Authority noticed that an entire train had been painted. They immediately separated the cars, but several cars were sent into service. Factual confirmation regarding the Freedom Train is difficult due to limited photo-documentation of the paintings and the list of participating artists has been subject to hearsay. Under the leadership of the late CAINE ONE, the line up included ROGER, CHINO 174, DIME 139, DOC ONE, TAGE ONE, FLAME ONE, MAD 102 and SPIKE, SPEEDY. More on The Freedom Train In the future. DIME 139 essay Provided to @149st August 2002 Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Copyright © 2002 @149st. All rights reserved. | Home |  Artists |  Crews |  History |  Links |  E mail | Glossary |