The Ferdinand Magellan is a former Pullman Company observation car which served as Presidential Rail Car, U.S. Number 1 from 1943 until 1958. The Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Miami-Dade County, Florida acquired the Ferdinand Magellan in 1959. The Ferdinand Magellan was designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior, National Parks Service in February of 1985. As of 2006, it remains the only railroad car on the list of historic landmarks. The Pullman Palace Car Company, owned by George Pullman, manufactured railroad train cars in the mid to late 1800s through the early decades of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. ... When passenger trains were still the preferred mode of intercity transportation in America, observations often were used by those campaigning for public office, especially for the Presidency of the United States. ... The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. ... Official language(s) English Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Area  Ranked 22nd  - Total 65,794 sq mi (170,451 km²)  - Width 162 miles (260 km)  - Length 497 miles (800 km)  - % water 17. ... USS Constitution. ... The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is a Cabinet department of the United States government that manages and conserves most federally-owned land. ... The National Park Service (NPS) is the United States government agency that deals with U.S. National Parks and U.S. National Monuments. ... Not to be confused with railcar. ...

History

The Ferdinand Magellan was built in 1928 by the Pullman Company as a private car. It was one of six similar cars named after famous explorers, Ferdinand Magellan, David Livingstone, Henry Stanley, Marco Polo, Robert Peary and Roald Amundsen. After the United States entered World War II, it was suggested by Secret Service agent Mike Reilly and White House Press Secretary Stephen Early that President Franklin D. Roosevelt needed a specially equipped and armored car rather than using standard equipment provided by the Pullman Company. The Ferdinand Magellan was selected, and the Pullman Company rebuilt the car. The Ferdinand Magellan became the first passenger railcar built for a President since the War Department had built a special car for the use of Abraham Lincoln in 1865.^[1] Restored passenger cars on display at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, WI. A passenger car is a piece of railroad rolling stock that is designed to carry passengers. ... Ferdinand Magellan (Portuguese: Fernão de Magalhães, IPA pronunciation: //; Spanish: Fernando or Hernando de Magallanes; Spring 1480–April 27, 1521[1]) was a Portuguese maritime explorer who led the first successful attempt to circumnavigate the Earth. ... David Livingstone (19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish medical missionary and explorer of the Victorian era, now best remembered because of his meeting with Henry Morton Stanley which gave rise to the popular quotation, // Early life David Livingstone was born in the village of Blantyre, South Lanarkshire... Sir Henry Morton Stanley (also known as Bula Matari (Breaker of Rocks) in Congo), born John Rowlands (January 28, 1841 – May 10, 1904), was a 19th-century Welsh-born American journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. ... Marco Polo (September 15, 1254, Venice; or Curzola, Venetian Dalmatia — January 8, 1324, Venice) was a Venetian trader and explorer who, together with his father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo, was one of the first Westerners to travel the Silk Road to China (which he called Cathay) and visited the... Robert Edwin Peary (May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer who claimed to have been the first person, on April 6, 1909, to reach the geographic North Pole. ... Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (July 16, 1872–June 18?, 1928) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. ... Combatants Allies: Poland, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, France/Free France, United States, China, Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Greece, Norway, Honduras, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, Bulgaria, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Burma, Slovakia Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military... USSS redirects here. ... The White House Press Secretary is a senior White House official with a rank one step below Presidential Cabinet level. ... Stephen Tyree Early (August 27, 1889 - August 11, 1951) was a U.S. journalist and government official. ... FDR redirects here. ... Line drawing of the Department of Wars seal. ... For other uses of the name Abraham Lincoln, see Abraham Lincoln (disambiguation) Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865), sometimes called Abe Lincoln and nicknamed Honest Abe, the Rail Splitter, and the Great Emancipator, was the 16th President of the United States (1861 to 1865), and the first president...

Features

When the Ferdinand Magellan was rebuilt, the original six bedrooms in the car were reduced to four, and the dining room and observation lounge were enlarged. Two of the bedrooms were a suite for the President and the First Lady, with a fully equipped bathroom, including a bathtub, connecting the two bedrooms. The dining room could also be used as a conference room. It has a solid mahogany table that measures 38" x 72" (96.3 cm x 183 cm) and seats eight. The front end of the car held quarters for two stewards, a pantry, a galley, mechanical equipment, storage and ice bunkers. First Lady is an unofficial term that is sometimes applied to the female spouse of a male head of state or head of government. ... The name mahogany was first used for wood of Swietenia mahagoni, later also for the wood of the closely related Swietenia macrophylla. ... A pantry is a room in a domestic house used for food storage. ... The galley is the compartment of a ship, submarine, train or aircraft where food is cooked and prepared. ...

The car was protected with 5/8" (15 mm) armor plate on the sides, top, bottom and ends. The windows were replaced with sealed three inch (76.2 mm) thick 12-ply laminated bullet resistant glass. As the windows were sealed, the car was air conditioned by blowing the interior air over pipes carrying the meltwater from ice. Other features included bank vault style doors at both entrances to the car, two escape hatches for emergency egress, exterior loudspeakers for public addresses, a telephone in every room that could be connected to a trainside telephone outlet provided by the local telephone company and a custom built wheel-chair elevator that could lift Roosevelt from ground level up to the rear platform of the car. The wheel-chair elevator was removed after Roosevelt's death in 1945. These modifications increased the weight of the car from 160,000 pounds (72,563 kg) to 285,000 pounds (129,252 kg), making the Ferdinand Magellan the heaviest passenger railcar ever used in the United States. The Ferdinand Magellan traveled at the end of a special train that included Pullman sleeping cars for staff, baggage cars and a communications car operated by the Army Signal Corps. Military vehicles are commonly armoured to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets or shells, protecting the soldiers inside from enemy fire. ... Bulletproof glass is glass that is capable of stopping all manner of bullets fired at it. ... Note: in the broadest sense, air conditioning can refer to any form of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning. ... The interior of a Pullman car on the Chicago and Alton Railroad circa 1900. ... A restored CN baggage car in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. ... Branch insignia of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, representing Myers Wigwag The U.S. Army Signal Corps was founded in 1861 by United States Army Major Albert J. Myer, a physician by training. ...

Presidential use

President Roosevelt's first trip in the Ferdinand Magellan was to Miami, Florida, where he boarded a Pan American World Airways flying boat for his trip to the Casablanca Conference in 1943. He traveled approximately 50,000 miles (81,500 km) in the car in the next two years, using it for the last time on a trip to Warm Springs, Georgia the day before he died. The Magic City, The American Riviera, The Sixth Borough, M.I.A Location of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. ... Official language(s) English Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Area  Ranked 22nd  - Total 65,794 sq mi (170,451 km²)  - Width 162 miles (260 km)  - Length 497 miles (800 km)  - % water 17. ... Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal international airline of the United States from the 1930s until its collapse in 1991. ... Boeing 314 A flying boat is an aircraft that is designed to take off and land on water, in particular a type of seaplane which uses its fuselage as a floating hull (instead of pontoons mounted below the fuselage). ... President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill. ... Warm Springs is a city located in Meriwether County, Georgia. ...

Like other observation cars of its era, the Ferdinand Magellan had an open platform on the rear end of the car. Observation cars were normally placed at the end of a train, so that the occupants of the car had an unobstructed view in three directions. This is the platform from which Harry Truman gave his "whistlestop" campaign speeches. During the campaign the car travelled more than 28,000 miles (46,284 km), and Truman spoke almost 350 speeches from the rear platform. The famous photograph of Truman holding the "Dewey Defeats Truman" headline was taken while the president was standing on the platform of the railcar. For the victim of Mt. ... For the original railroad term see whistle stop. ...

President Dwight D. Eisenhower made little use of the Ferdinand Magellan. He travelled in it to his farm in Gettysbug, Pennsylvania a few times, and once to Ottawa where he addressed the Parliament of Canada. The car was last used officially in 1954, when Mamie Eisenhower rode it to Groton, Connecticut to christen a ship. The railcar was declared surplus and offered to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958, but the Smithsonian did not act on the offer, and the Gold Coast Railroad Museum was able to acquire it. In 1984 the Ferdinand Magellan was briefly loaned to the presidential re-election campaign of Ronald Reagan, who gave a series of "whistlestop" speeches from the rear platform during a one-day trip in Ohio. Dwight David Ike Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American soldier and politician. ... Gettysburg is a borough 38 miles (68 km) south by southwest of Harrisburg in Adams County, Pennsylvania, USA, of which it is the county seatGR6. ... Official language(s) None Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Area  Ranked 33rd  - Total 46,055 sq mi (119,283 km²)  - Width 160 miles (255 km)  - Length 280 miles (455 km)  - % water 2. ... Motto: Template:Unhide = Advance Ottawa/Ottawa en avant Location City Information Established: 1850 as Bytown Area: 2,778. ... The Parliament of Canada (French: Parlement du Canada) is Canadas legislative branch, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario. ... White House portrait Mary Geneva Doud Eisenhower (November 14, 1896 – November 1, 1979), known as Mamie, was the wife of General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower and First Lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961. ... Waterfront of Groton, Connecticut looking upriver Groton is a town located on the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. ... Official language(s) English Capital Hartford Largest city Bridgeport Area  Ranked 48th  - Total 5,549 sq. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... The Smithsonian Institution Building or Castle on the National Mall serves as the Institutions headquarters. ... Ronald Wilson Reagan, Hon GCB, (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). ... Official language(s) None Capital Columbus Largest city Columbus Largest metro area Cleveland Area  Ranked 34th  - Total 44,825 sq mi (116,096 km²)  - Width 220 miles (355 km)  - Length 220 miles (355 km)  - % water 8. ...

References

• Withers, Bob. The President Travels by Train
• The Gold Coast Railroad Museum: Presidential Rail Car, U.S. Number 1 Ferdinand Magellan - retrieved July 10, 2006

1. ^ Abraham Lincoln's funeral car