Whistle stop train tour

For the original railroad term, see whistle stop.

A whistle stop or whistle-stop tour is a style of political campaigning where the politician makes a series of brief appearances or speeches at a number of small towns over a short period of time. Originally, whistle-stop appearances were made from the open platform of an observation car or a private railroad car.

Usage

Use of the term has spread to cover any travel done very quickly and with only brief pauses. It is common to hear this expression in the United States, where the term originated, as well as the United Kingdom.

Background

In the 19th century, when travel by railroad was the most common means of traveling long distances over the vast expanses of land as in the United States, politicians would charter tour trains which would travel from town to town. At each stop, the candidate would make a speech from the train, but might rarely set foot on the ground. "Whistle stop" campaign speeches would be made from the rear platform of a train.

One of the most famous railroad cars to be used in the U.S. whistle-stop tours was the Ferdinand Magellan, the only car custom built for the President of the United States in the 20th century. Originally built in 1928 by the Pullman Company and officially the "U.S. No. 1 Presidential Railcar", the Ferdinand Magellan is currently on display at the Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Miami, Florida. The famous news photo of Harry S. Truman holding up a copy of the Chicago Tribune with a banner headline stating "Dewey Defeats Truman" was taken on this platform on Wednesday, November 3, 1948, at the St. Louis Union Station. The Ferdinand Magellan was also used by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and, to a much lesser extent, by President Dwight Eisenhower. The Magellan’s last official trip before retirement was in 1954, when first lady Mamie Eisenhower rode it from Washington, D.C., to Groton, Connecticut, to christen the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus. President Ronald Reagan used the Magellan for one day, October 12, 1984, traveling 120 miles in Ohio, from Dayton to Toledo, making five stops to give "whistle stop" speeches along the way.

Modern whistle-stop tours

Prince Charles of the United Kingdom started a five-day whistle-stop tour of the United Kingdom on Monday 6 September 2010 with a speech in Glasgow. The green campaigning tour is a part of the Prince's Start initiative that aims to build public awareness of sustainable activities.

Photos

The following are examples of whistle-stop train tours:

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  1916 Republican candidate for President of the United States, Charles Evans Hughes, and his wife shake hands with supporters at Chicago's Union Station.

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  Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt on whistle stop tour in 1932

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  President Harry S. Truman at the microphone in 1948 in Keyser, West Virginia.

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  President Gerald Ford and First Lady Betty Ford wave from a train during their whistle stop train tour of Michigan in 1976

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  President Ronald Reagan goes on a whistle-stop tour through Ohio in 1984.

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  President-Elect Barack Obama on whistle-stop tour enroute to his inauguration.