“This was Air Force One before there was Air Force One,” said Victor Vincent the Curator at the Gold Coast Railroad Museum. He’s referring to the Ferdinand Magellan Pullman rail car that’s also known as Presidential Rail Car, U.S. Number 1. It was a train car the president could use to travel in. It first went into service with President Roosevelt on a trip to Miami - kinda full circle if you think about it now that it calls Miami home at the museum. During it’s years of service, it was used by several Presidents including Roosevelt, Truman, a little by Eisenhower and then it was acquired by the museum in 1959. The last time it was used by a President was with Ronald Reagan during his campaign for his second term in office. He used it for his “Whistle Stop Tours”
Originally the car had six bedrooms. They converted it to four and made the dining room and observation room larger. Plus, they added extra thick metal and some bulletproof glass. It offered everything you could want to a president traveling at the time: safety, security and speed. On the rear of the car was a platform where they would hold press conferences (and also the spot of the famous photo of the newspaper headline “Dewey Defeats Truman”).
Two Fun Facts:
1. It’s the only passenger railcar ever designated a National Historic Landmark
2. The site of the Gold Coast Railroad Museum was a blimp base in WWII
For more on the history Presidential Rail Car, U.S. Number 1 watch the video below:
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