Georgia 300

El Georgia 300^[1]​^[2]​ es un vagón de ferrocarril de propiedad privada, propiedad de John H. "Jack" Heard, con sede en Florida y ha sido utilizado por varios presidentes de los últimos tiempos en diversas campañas relacionadas con el Whistle Stop Tours.^[3]​

Georgia 300, is a classic looking heavyweight observation car from the golden era of rail travel that was built by the Pullman Standard Co. shops in 1930.^[1]​^[3]​ Sporting a Packard blue with silver striping livery, the train car operated as a lounge car named the General Polk on the New Orleans-New York Crescent Limited (operated by the L&N, West Point Route, Southern, and Pennsylvania^[4]​), and was later purchased by the Georgia Railroad and reconfigured to Office Car 300. The Georgia Railroad used the car in trips to venues like The Masters Tournament and the Kentucky Derby.^[2]​ It ran until its retirement in 1982 after being made redundant as surplus due to the merger between Georgia Railroad and Family Lines.^[1]​^[2]​^[3]​

Heard, who owns a rail yard in Orange Park, Florida, purchased the car in 1985 and made a series of refurbishments in 1986, 1989, 1995, 2000^[1]​^[3]​ and 2008. The car has a dining room, an observation lounge, one master bedroom, two additional bedrooms, two bathrooms with showers, a section lounge, crew quarters, and kitchen.^[1]​^[3]​ It is Amtrak compliant and compatible to be used on most scheduled Amtrak trains as well as other private venues.^[5]​^[6]​

The car is a constant work-in-progress with carpets and fabrics constantly being improved. During 2006–2008, the interior and exterior of the car were completely repainted, along with the addition of new monogrammed linens and bed-coverings in the bedrooms and a recovering of the couch in the observation lounge.

El Georgia 300 ha recibido a los presidentes Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush,^[7]​ Bill Clinton,^[8]​^[9]​ y Barack Obama.^[3]​ En 2004, el candidato presidencial John F. Kerry y su compañero de fórmula el senador John Edwards, viajaron en el coche de St. Louis hasta Kingman, Arizona, después de la Convención Demócrata en Boston.^[3]​

El Georgia 300 fue utilizado como coche de apoyo durante el la campaña de George Bush para ser presidente en 1992. Este uso se cree que ha impulsado aún más el uso del coche por otros presidentes.^[7]​

Un carro nuevo fue utilizado por Bill Clinton por su 21st Century Express para la campaña electoral de 1996, en un guiño a su campaña electoral de 1992 con un bus.^[10]​ El tren de 13 vagones usados por el Georgia se alargó por otro de Amtrak, privado, y el anfitrión del ferrocarril CSX.^[8]​^[9]​^[10]​

Barack Obama utilized the Georgia 300 twice; first in April 2008 for a trip between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pa; and secondly before his 2009 inauguration on a whistle stop to Washington DC, along a similar route to that used by Abraham Lincoln.^[3]​ The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prevented private planes, news helicopters, balloonists and others from flying anywhere near the airspace above the train route.^[11]​ These rolling NOTAM flight restrictions prevented general aviation from flying near stations and above the linear route of sections of the Northeast Corridor railroad line for "for Special Security Reasons". ^[12]​ ^[13]​ ^[14]​ ^[15]​ ^[16]​ ^[17]​

The train used consisted of two Amtrak GE Genesis locomotives, numbers 44 and 120, several Amfleet coaches and cafes, and the Georgia 300 at the rear.

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