Why do people think this was planned for his funeral years in advance? That locomotive is 13 years old, and was painted that way as part of the Bush Library Tracks of the Iron Horse exhibit in 2005. The fact the loco is still around just made it perfect to make a funeral train for not only a guy who really liked trains, but the last Presidental candidate to campaign by rails.
Chris, that I did not know. Thank you for enlightening me.
Well Maynard, it is a dismal so I don’t expect you to know about it.
I read an article by an Alabama news site give Progress Rail credit for that loco and making the Bush Funeral Train happen. Which was a pretty great feat for them since the loco was built SIX years BEFORE they bought EMD.
Chris, well, yea. You got me.
Time for me to suck it up. I hate to admit this, but I’m guilty of doing something I tell my children not to do: go on first impressions without thoroughly researching a topic.
Thanks to our buddy Chris in Kansas, I looked into a couple of trains like I wish now I had in the first place.
One: The Union Pacific 4141 was designed for the Geroge Bush Presidential Library, not necessarily as a funeral train (although we don’t know whether that was ever intended or not). The fact is that it was part of fine exhibit at the museum in 2006 on trains. (1)
They also had an exhibit on one of Bush’s other loves, baseball, and have had many other fine, dynamic exhibits.
Two: UP4141 was indeed in storage after the exhibit, not in service, and it was brought out for the funeral train. (2)
Three: Lincoln’s “funeral” train had NOTHING to do with his funeral. It was a train made specifically for Lincoln by his staff so he could travel in a style befitting the president of the United States. He didn’t like the showiness of it, and he never rode in the train; it was bedecked with black drapings and his picture placed on the front, then used for the funeral train. (Maybe Lincoln had said, “Hey, I wouldn’t be caught dead in that thing.” Okay that’s a bad joke.)
(1) From the website of the Bush Presidential Library:
Trains: Tracks of the Iron Horse
Monday November 7, 2005 to Monday July 31, 2006
This ambitious exhibit explored America’s love affair with trains, including rare and unique items such as the original gold spike that ceremonially completed the first U.S. transcontinental railroad. The exhibit featured a collection of historic and contemporary images by noted railroad photographers and hundreds of railroad artifacts including railroad china and scale models.
(2) From Wikipedia:
Union Pacific 4141 is an EMD SD70ACe locomotive owned by Union Pacific. Its paint scheme is based on that of Air Force One and “George Bush 41” is painted on the sides in honor of the George Bush Presidential Library and George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States. The road number 4141 was previously occupied by an SD70M, which has since been renumbered to 3778.
The unit was removed from active service due to reduced traffic levels stemming from the financial crisis of 2007–2010 and was stored at UP’s North Little Rock shop. The locomotive was briefly removed from storage in 2012 and made a round trip from North Little Rock to Chicago, and was then immediately returned to storage. For a while, it was wrapped for long term storage, but the wrapping was later removed. During February 2018, 4141 received cosmetic touch ups to its paint and then returned to storage.
After the passing of George H. W. Bush on November 30, 2018, UP 4141 was brought out of storage and was sent to Houston, Texas on December 1, 2018. The locomotive participated in the funeral train for George H. W. Bush on December 6, running from Spring, Texas to College Station, Texas. Following the funeral, the unit was sent to Omaha, Nebraska, where it was on display from December 9 to December 12.
(3) From the Washington Post:
Dubbed “The Lincoln Special,” the funeral train was not initially intended for such a somber trek. White House staff believed Lincoln needed a railroad car befitting the president, like a 19th-century Air Force One. It was outfitted with a seal of the United States and elegant woodwork. But Lincoln thought it was “too opulent,” said Matthew Costello, senior historian with the White House Historical Association.
“He didn’t think it reflected himself or how Americans saw him,” Costello said. So Lincoln never rode in it — not until his final journey home.
So, thanks again to Chris, and now, after a lapse, in part caused by a little perhaps unfounded cynicism, I return to checking into a subject before I go on an impression.
For the George Bush fanatics. Here’s your G-scale locomotive: