American History

Presidential funeral train: Recalling FDR’s last journey from Georgia’s Warm Springs



April 1945 -- An armed guard from Camp Sibert presents arms as the special funeral train bearing the body of President Roosevelt pulls into Atlanta's Terminal Station on its way from Warm Springs, Ga., to Washington, D.C.
Credit: AJC File

NEWS
By Brian O'Shea, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
April 12, 2019

When a special funeral train was outfitted last year to carry former President George H.W. Bush from Houston to College Station, Texas, it was an echo of the funeral train that carried Franklin D. Roosevelt from Georgia after his death at Warm Springs in 1945.

Roosevelt, a frequent presence in Georgia, was visiting his Warm Springs retreat when he died on April 12, 1945.

The president’s casket was carried in its own train car, with a military honor guard. Honor guards of military units and members of the public gathered along the route of the train, including at Atlanta’s Terminal Station.

The train traveled first to Washington for a small funeral service at the White House, then to FDR’s funeral and burial in Hyde Park, N.Y. In Washington, a horse-drawn Army caisson carried the casket from the train station to the White House.

A special funeral train carried the president’s casket from Warm Springs to Washington D.C., including a stop in Atlanta.

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Last return to Capital: Brought from Warm Springs, Ga., the flag-draped coffin bearing the body of President Roosevelt is transferred at Washington's Union Station from a special train. Guards arrange the caisson for the procession from the station to the White House, where private funeral services were held yesterday (April 14, 1945)
From AJC Archives.



President Franklin Roosevelt's train arrives from Washington D.C. at Warm Springs in the 1940s, where he spent time at 'The Little White House.'

Credit: KENNETH ROGERS / AJC FILE



From the AJC archives

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Brian O'SheaFollow Brian O'Shea on twitter
Brian O'Shea is a senior digital producer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He works with the newsroom to identify topics of interest to Atlanta readers and also works with voter guides and election results. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia and The Ohio State University Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism.