This Saturday, July 18th, the Southern Pacific 4449, a 1941 Daylight Express steam locomotive that came out or retirement to pull the Freedom Train in 1976, is out for the first time in 30 years. It is on its way to Trainfest 2009 in Michigan. This Saturday July 18th, the 4449 starts its run to Chicago from Minneapolis at the Friends of the 261 facility at 8:00am.

I will be there taking pictures and boarding the vintage passener cars to join in on this amazing journey. The train will not be following the traditional Amtrak route, it is an express to Chicago that will be following the classic route along the mighty Missisippi. You can also track the 4449’s progress; there’s a GPS page on the engine’s website. There might still be tickets available there too!

I plan on twittering from the train, you can follow me: @mitchsterdotcom