Hand the conductor your ticket, settle into your seat and prepare for an excursion like no other.
Join us for a journey into history.
The posts, pictures and historical pearls you’ll find on this site comprise the only comprehensive collection of research about President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train–the original and its successor. Here you will discover the history of President Lincoln’s funeral rail car, from its genesis at the U.S. Military Railroad car shops outside Washington, D.C., to its solemn and sorrowful journey in the spring of 1865 and the unfortunate fate it would meet four decades later. You’ll learn about the steam locomotives that pulled “The Lincoln Special,” as the funeral train was known, and about the people and places that helped orchestrate what is still the largest funeral the United States has ever witnessed.
But the story of the Lincoln Funeral Car doesn’t end there. On this site, too, is the modern-day story of how a few dozen volunteers combined their time, talents and a shared love of Lincoln to re-create this seminal piece of American history.
I hope you will enjoy the site, but more than that, I hope you will learn, engage and share as you travel with us on this most remarkable journey.
Yours truly,
Shannon