My Grandfather, Angus McLeod, was FDR's engineer on the route between Atlanta & Warm Springs, GA. According to my mother, he was always the engineer whenever FDR traveled to Warm Springs during the presidency.I also know that he was the engineer for the funeral train...just the Warm Springs to Atlanta section. He told me as a child about how slow he had to go & had to stop at every crossroad so people could pay their respects. If anyone has any info on this...links to Southern Railway personnel records, etc. I would greatly appreciate it!! Thanks!

-- Stevi Dorsey (steviddd@aol.com), February 24, 2004

Answers

I too, am curious about FDR's funeral train routing from Warm Springs to Atlanta. I had always assumed that the train traveled east from WS until reaching Experiment (Griffin) GA., & then on to the junction with SRs main line near McDonough & thence on to Atlanta on the SR. But I recently saw a photo of a train (draped in black with crowds along the track) porported to be passing thru my old hometown of East Point, just SW of Atlanta. (I reconized many of the buildings.) This would mean that the train had switched on to the C of Ga. at Griffin, and continued north (thru Lovejoy, Jonesboro, Forest Park, and then thru East Point on its way to downtown Atlanta. Can anyone absolutely verify this routing of FDRs funeral train in April of 1945? Was this the route he had always taken to & from WS, or was the routing varied by the Secret Service?

-- Greg Hodges (lynnhodges@earthlink.net), May 01, 2004.

First off, I can assure you that the Southern railway handled this on their tracks, and not on the C of G. In this time period, they were competitors, and did not share much "trackage rights" in this area, if I am correct.

I am Director of operations of the Roosevelt Railroad Museum in Griffin, Ga., and we have purchased a portion of the Southern's "M- Line" from NS several years ago, that President Roosevelt rode on, located on the south side of Griffin. After much research, I can assure you, he traveled on the Southern lines, through Griffin to McDonough, then on to Atl., etc. and vice versa.

For info purposes, we are about to start giving rides on a few miles of our track to the public in about a month, starting location is 3030 Teamon Rd. in Griffin. If anyone is interested in this, please e- mail me.

-- Elton (RooseveltRRinc@aol.com), May 07, 2004.

....Correction, our tracks are on the north side of Griffin, not south.

-- Elton (RooseveltRRinc@aol.com), May 08, 2004.

Elton, what motive power will you be using on your upcoming public trips ?

-- Greg Hodges (lynnhodges@earthlink.net), May 09, 2004.