The President Travels by Train

For much of U.S. history, a private Pullman car on a special train was the equivalent of today’s Air Force One for the president – allowing the most powerful man in the nation to conduct business wherever he was needed.

From John Quincy Adams–the first U.S. president to ride a train–to Bill Clinton’s more recent journeys aboard the rails, this book documents presidential travel over the years in superb detail with fascinating anecdotes. Complete with the itineraries, crews and equipment for presidents up to Bill Clinton, author Bob Withers gives readers a snapshot of what it was like to travel by train as a president. From the details of Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train to the specifications of Franklin Roosevelt’s bulletproof railcar, this book will appeal to railroad enthusiasts and history buffs alike. 

Many rare photographs of the golden age of presidential travel under Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman in the 1930s and ‘40s supplement this remarkably well-researched text.