Journey through History:
Presidential Travels from Rails to Air!

This week, we inaugurate a new President of the United States. It’s always an historic occasion, and not too long after being sworn in, the new president will take his first official trip, on the aircraft known as Air Force One.

            There was a time when presidential travel wasn’t in the air, but on the ground. On rails, to be precise. The history of presidential trains goes back almost as far as the days of our first president, George Washington.

            The Father of Our Country never rode on a train; Washington died in 1799, about a quarter-century before the first tracks were laid in the U.S. The first presidential candidate to use a train for campaigning was William Henry Harrison during his unsuccessful 1836 bid for the office. Harrison ran again in 1840 and won; he became the first president-elect to ride a train to his inauguration in March 1841.

            It would be another twenty years before a sitting president would really start utilizing the railroad to its fullest. Abraham Lincoln traveled throughout the country by train, reaching out directly to Americans and his soldiers in the Union Army, consolidating support for his policies during the Civil War. For the first time, a special coach was built for presidential rail travel. Passenger coaches, especially private ones, frequently bore unique names in those days. Lincoln’s was dubbed United States, and Lincoln supposedly disliked the very idea. He was personally averse to luxury and wary of the message such a coach would send to his constituents, especially during wartime. He never rode in it while alive; after his assassination in April 1865, the car was part of the “Lincoln Special” funeral train that brought his body back to Illinois for burial.

            Lincoln’s use of train travel set a precedent that his successors, and their rival candidates, were quick to follow. One president, James Garfield, was shot while waiting to board his train in Washington, D.C., in 1881. Garfield died of his wounds several months later. More than half a century later, Franklin Roosevelt set the standard for presidential rail travel.

            FDR used train travel extensively during his successful 1932 campaign, and several years after taking office he started using U.S. Car No. 1, built by the Pullman Company in 1928 and originally named the Ferdinand Magellan, one of six custom cars named after famous explorers. The car was acquired by the government in 1941 and refitted for Roosevelt’s use during his travels. World War II was on, so the car featured 5/8-inch steel plating on its roof, sides and floor, and 3-inch-thick bulletproof glass windows. Two escape hatches were also installed. It was the heaviest railcar ever built in America, weighing over 140 tons.

            The interior of Roosevelt’s car had a presidential suite, two guest rooms, a dining room that also served as a conference room, and an observation lounge. There were telephones in most rooms, unheard of at the time. Communications were facilitated by a converted hospital car that had high-tech radio gear installed, so the president could stay connected at all times. A second converted hospital car was used by the presidential Secret Service detail. The code name for these two cars was “Crate.” An oversize baggage car would often carry two sedans and two convertibles for motorcades. The presidential train used the call-sign “POTUS,” with the Secret Service calling it “City Hall.” The train had the right-of-way wherever it traveled, at any time, just like presidential motorcades and Air Force One do today.

            During his presidency, FDR traveled nearly a quarter-million miles on the rails. His successor, Harry Truman, took to U.S. Car No. 1 for his 1948 campaign, a 31,000-mile “whistlestop” tour in which the train would stop at virtually every town along the route and Truman would speak to the assembled crowd from the rear platform. Truman often complained of the train’s slow speed and demanded that the engineer open it up to 80mph, double what FDR preferred. The train’s relatively slow speed was one reason why Truman became increasingly reliant on air travel on a converted cargo plane, a C-118 Liftmaster dubbed Independence.

            Dwight Eisenhower used the special railcar during his 1953-61 presidency, but its days were numbered. During his administration, the White House put the first “Air Force One” callsign on a presidential plane, a Lockheed Constellation. The last use of the car was by Ike’s first lady, Mamie, who took it to christen the world’s first nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus. The historic car was retired to the Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Florida, where it remains on display today.

            Presidents and candidates have occasionally ridden the rails since the train’s golden era, recognizing the train’s iconic place in American lore and its unique ability to transport the president around the country in secure comfort and stay relatively close to the people. No president will ever use it like FDR did, but the train will always have a special place in the history of our chief executives.

            Ready to ride the rails? We can recommend some great trips in the U.S., Canada and overseas. Give us a call, and all aboard!