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| President-elect Obama with former Presidents Bush, Carter and Clinton and the then current President Bush at the White House on Jan 7, 2009 |
(by Pete Souza - Creative Commons 2.0 Generic License)
How did Obama get to Washington DC later in the month? By train of course.
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| Barack Obama on the end of the Georgia 300 train car as it rolls through Claymont, Delaware on the way to Washington DC (17 January 2009) |
(by ajac - CC Attribution 2.0 Generic License)
But look closely at the first photo again. Another old President is in the room - President Lincoln in the picture on the wall. After his assassination by John Wilkes Booth in April 1865 Lincoln's last ride was on a funeral train.
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| The engine that drew Lincoln's Funeral Train from Washington to Springfield |
Presidents travelling by train is a well established tradition as shown by President Wilson. Pictures exist of other Presidents and presidential candidates on the stomp including this from 1920.
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Informal photograph of Governor James M. Cox of Ohio, a candidate for President in 1920, standing on the bottom step at the back of a train in Chicago, Illinois. Date: 1920 |
(Uncredited Chicago Daily News Photographer)
We have no Presidents in the UK of course and I'm not one for photographing trains but I did discover this engine 2392 on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway taken some 40 years ago.
For more Presidents, trains and old photos go to Sepia Saturday 91
25 comments:
Hi Bob .. there's usually a correlation somewhere isn't there .. love the photos though and thus the history involved.
Cheers - Hilary
I love that link with Lincoln's photo and the funeral train. I suppose you could have drawn another link between Presidential train travel and our Royalty. I'm not sure but hasn't the Queen had to stop using it because of excessive running costs?
Rosalind; I did think of the Royal Train but also had the option of linking to the Russian President and Putin on Chinese trains but thes got shunted into a siding.
Love the trains and always have. This is a really fun week as all are taking a slightly different twist on the theme. Interesting and fun post!
Ah lovely Bob! I have been up close to that train that carred Lincoln's body (or so they say) it was parked in Columbia Heights, Mn a suburb just outside of Minneapolis! It was very cool. I also heard that the Ford Theater where he was shot never opened again after the shooting, but now, after all these years they are reopening it. That would probably be a very cool place to visit when it happens!
Hi Bob ...
You did great tying everything in so well. I was really impressed with the portrait of Lincoln making you think of his funeral train.
Loved the history on this post.
Have a great SS!
Kathy M.
Clever links to the theme(s) as usual. I’m a bit stumped this week again (distracted by twin 3 year old grandchildren’s visit) so will have to get my thinking cap on. You could link it to Carmi’s post again (White House).
The car in the last American photo looks like the same type as the one in the prompt.
Interesting to see the President who took us off the tracks and all these lovely trains.
A smashing tour around trains and leaders - a bit like one of those grand model railway lay-out where you are taken here and there and thoroughly entertained into the bargain. I seem to recall there was one European monarch who used to be a train driver in his spare time, but I can't remember who it was.
Despite leaving my trainspottiong days behind a long, long time ago, I do still like everything about trains. It's probably my favourite mode of transport. The newer ones are of course not so romantic as the old steam ones, but a great way to travel nevertheless. If only so many of the old routes hadn't been shut down we would have a better network in the UK today, and possibly less road traffic.
I did a similar image search for politicians on the backs of trains, Bob, and came up with quite a few, but missed that one of Cox, which is like Alan's in so many ways. Great finds.
We have no presidents in the UK, but could have shown any one of our prime ministers who've run our rail system into the ground over the years
Really nice post, Bob. I particularly like the photograph of Lincoln's funeral train. What a monster.
You did a great job researching and pulling these together. I recall that photo of Lincoln's funeral train from history books.
Hmmm I think my previous comment went off into cyber somewhere....I am having some computer issues here and need to get all this stuff backed onto another hard drive so that this PC can be diagnosed. But meantime, this is a great array, that shows you spent time researching this week. I recall that photo of Lincoln's funeral train from history books.
Great contribution Bob, so full of stories and examples. I am kind of late today but you know.....
QMM
Postcardy: You are probably right about it being the same train as there is only one year between the two events.
Pat: both messages materialised from the cyber ether.
I agree, the train does look very similar. It seems over history, presidents and trains have always gone well together.
Rosalind mentioned the royalty. they did travel by train when they visited Canada. that's how my grandparents met them, at a train station. this seems like so long ago and yet, it is not even a century ago.
i don't like travelling by train as it makes me sick (the motion...0 but i love watching them. and i often hear them as there are tracks running along the riverside not far from where i live.
:)~
HUGZ
The train used to be such a great way to get out to the people, not so much anymore, though it still has some powerful symbolism.
I enjoyed the photos, I have a great love of trains and your photos brought back memories growing up when I spent a lot of time with my grandfather( who worked for the Union Pacific rail-road)at the train yard as well as walking along the tracks with him behind our home. I miss the days when an open box cars meant a glimpse and wave from a rail rider and waiting to wave to the folks in the caboose.
A clever medley. So when was the last whistlestop train campaign? Now the equivalent is the airstrip stop with a meet and greet speech in an airplane hanger.
You've come up with a great selection and so very well on theme! I wonder if there's an official presidential train, like the Royal train.
Yes, present day American presidents really are looking for photo ops to help them get votes as they really wouldn't want to really ride the train.
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