Mention in another thread ("Passenger Car Info Request") of the Truman campaign train, got me to wondering (again) about what locomotives were used to power those trains. Although many railroads have hosted campaign trains through the years, President Harry S. Truman's "Whistle Stop" campaign was probably the most famous, and was very instrumental in his upset victory over Thomas Dewey that year. Candidate Dewey's "faux pas" statement on the engineer of HIS train also contributed greatly to his defeat that year, and I wonder what locomotive was at the head of THAT train. Without knowing what locomotives powered those trains, we can't say for sure if any of them survived into preservation.

Les

Somewhere around here I have a couple of photos of his campaign trains on the Frisco.

I remember being told in the '70's that one of GTW #4070's claims to fame, as thin as it is, was being the designated back-up engine for Truman's '48 campaign train on the Grand Trunk. Later well superseded as a claim to fame by her appearance at the beginning of the Robert Redford movie The Natural.

I thought Trains did a feature on this years ago?

Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum has a photo of Truman's train coming in to North Judson led by a Pennsy E7 diesel. BUT, the small numberbords used at that time prevent identifying the number of that particular locomotive. Would be nice if the one surviving E7 would have been confirmed as hauling HST's whistle stop campaign train, somewhere along the route. Obviously a long shot, but who knows?

Les

Steven -

I seem to remember that article. But l don't think that locomotives that powered the trains were mentioned. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Les

The Dewey verbal faux pas followed engineer Lee H. Tindale's faux pas backing the second of two L&N K-5 Pacifics to a water plug at Beaucoup, Ill. on Oct. 12, 1948, according to Bob Wither's The President Travels By Train (1996), page 218.

looked up the Faux Pas -

Dewey had numerous faux pas in the campaign. At one stop, Dewey commented that it was nice to see so many children, and that they should be lucky he got them a day off from school. One kid yelled, “It’s Saturday.” At another speech in Illinois, Dewey was speaking from the rear platform of a train, which started backing up. No one was injured, but Dewey declared, the engineer “should probably be shot at sunrise, but we’ll let him off this time since no one was hurt.” Truman took full advantage of this, and announced that there were great train crews all across the nation, “they are all Democrats. Dewey objects to having engineers back up. He doesn’t mention that under that great engineer, Hoover, we backed up into the worst depression in history.”

I have a copy of the March 1949 issue of Trains Magazine with a feature article on The President's Campaign Special. On page 18, Union Pacific 4-8-4 #835 is shown as the motive power for Mr. Truman's train. On page 21, a B&O A-B-A set of E units with what appears to be #881 or #661 (cant tell for sure) are pulling the train. The article also discusses "4-6-6-4" Pennsy electrics and green and yellow diesels on the C&NW.

Here are the specifics for anyone looking to find this article.....

"President Truman's Campaign Special" by Walter Fitzmaurice. Trains Vol. 9 #5 March 1949 pp. 16-22.

My late father was a career NY State Trooper, and was assigned to guard the Truman train at its stop in Batavia NY. I'm not sure whether he mentioned the power for the train, or not.

However, they had a "pilot engine" that ran a few minutes ahead of the president's train, in order to locate any misaligned switches or other hazards. That engine was a Niagara.

JR

When I was at the museum earlier today, I looked at our photo collection on display. Although it is true that the number of the Pennsylvania Railroad E7 as it comes into North Judson on Truman's train cannot be discerned, there is also another posted photo of this train as it came into Logansport, a bit futher down the line. In that photo, the nose of the E unit is very visible and in the Pennsy keystone is the number 5849. So, obviously NOT the number of the one surviving EMD E7.

Les