Watching the Obama Express make it's way to Washington. Thought it was neat that Amtrak put Genesis Locomotive number 44 on the front.
[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica]The Georgia 300 was initially constructed as a 10-section lounge car in 1930 and originally named the General Polk. It operated for nearly two decades on the Southern Railway's crack Crescent Limited between New York City and New Orleans, until being purchased in 1949 by the Georgia Railroad that rebuilt it into its current configuration and named it the Georgia 300. [/FONT]
The other Genesis unit was 120, which some have connected with January 20, the inauguration date. Pretty classy of Amtrak. TV coverage was hilarious. Reference to the car 300 as a "train," then as a caboose. A female reporter oohed and aahed that the length of the train exceeded 2 1/2 football fields. Can you IMAGINE that? I just have to bash the ignorance of the press. Sorry. :tb-sad:
From 43 taking every opportunity to slash Amtrak funding to 44 taking the train to Washington I've got to say I can think of no greater symbolism as to the change in how Washington sees passenger rail. I hope Amtrak has submitted a nice list of "shovel ready" projects.
Anyone have a pic of the entire train? So far I have onlyt seen the "Georgia." When was the last time a President rode by train (NOT counting JFKs funeral train)?
Which is kind of strange since his daddy, 41, likes trains so much. After he left office he chartered passenger trains from UP so often they decorated a special locomotive in his honor.
A few days ago the Baltimore Sun had an interesting article about Presidential train travel. It mentioned that Carter, Bush Sr and Clinton had also used the Georgia 300 while in office, and Kerry/Edwards during the 2004 campaign. Another interesting snippet was the article said that Truman was a railfan. It said he often rode in the cab during official travel, occasionally having a drive. Cheers David
BTW, on another forum there was a suggestion that Biden is a railfan. He travelled from Wilmington to Washington by train every day. Cheers David
I don't blame him for riding the train to Washington. Drivers in Washington are either Idiots, or have a Death Wish. Thank Goodness for the Metro!!!
Didn't Wilson do some whistle stop trips, too? Of course, given the era that was the premier way to go (still is, in my book).
Most from Taft and Eisenhower did whistle stop tours. BTW, anybody know what formed the pilot train ahead of the Obama Express? It had a pre-Amtrak car and what looked like an SPV2000. The press train behind had 5 vanilla Amfleet cars. Cheers David
