By Katherine Peach ELIZABETHTOWN, PA. — You’ve probably heard of “Rails to Trails,” a movement in which abandoned railroad tracks are converted into trails for hikers and bikers. Now the Stone Gables Estate in Elizabethtown, Pa., is bringing history buffs and train lovers a unique and exciting concept—”Trails to Rails.” A team of researchers and workers are converting a three-mile trail into a stretch of railroad. At the same time, the estate is commemorating one of the most unusual events in the history of American transportation: the journey of Abraham Lincoln’s funeral car. For much of its history, Elizabethtown has been connected to the railroad. Trains have stopped in this quiet Lancaster County town since the 1830s. Today the station is serviced by Amtrak’s Keystone Service between New York City and Harrisburg and the Pennsylvanian between the Big Apple and Pittsburgh. Back in the 19th century, Elizabethtown wasn’t quite so quiet. Besides having several factories, it held a station for the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mount Joy and Lancaster Railroad. And it was over a spur of that railroad that the train carrying Lincoln’s coffin passed in 1865. As general superintendent and project manager Steve Torrico explains, what has come to be known as the “Lincoln Funeral Train” wasn’t originally intended for that sad purpose. Prior to Lincoln, no U.S. president had his own designated train. “When a president traveled, he used a fancy private car belonging to the private railroad,” Torrico says. However, Lincoln proved an exception… and a challenge. According to Torrico, Lincoln enjoyed riding with the everyday travelers in the day coach. Even on the way to Gettysburg to deliver his famous address, Lincoln “sat there with his briefcase making notes on his speech,” surrounded by noisy kids and gossiping adults. Then the death threats began. Lincoln’s administration began to worry about his safety in the day coach and finally talked the president into a presidential train—sort of the Air Force One of the 1860s. However, Lincoln never rode aboard the train while alive, let alone view it. In his calendar, he marked April 15 as the day he was to make his first inspection of the train, which was somewhat grandiosely named The United States. But on the evening of April 14, Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. Because Lincoln’s wishes were to be buried in Springfield, Ill., where he had lived for nearly 25 years, it was decided that his coffin and that of his son Willie, who had died in 1862, would make the 1,654-mile trip from D.C. aboard The United States. Along the way, the train stopped in major cities and state capitals, where processions and ceremonies honoring the president were held. After that, The United States suffered a somewhat undignified fate. The several Leviathan locomotives that pulled the train likely didn’t survive the 19th century, and the funeral car was eventually sold to the Union Pacific Railroad and ended up as an everyday passenger coach. In 1911, it was destroyed by a fire in a shed in Minnesota. Fast-forward to 2015 and Elizabethtown, where entrepreneur David Abel and his wife, Tierney, are the owners of the Stone Gables Estate, a 275-acre history museum and popular wedding venue. Aware that Lincoln’s Funeral Train had crossed their property, they took an interest in a reconstruction of the train lovingly built by enthusiast Dave Kloke of Elgin, Ill., after seeing it at a train festival. And, as many collectors can relate to, they wanted it for their own collection of Americana and central Pennsylvania artifacts. The rest, as they say, is history. The United States—a replica Leviathan locomotive, tender, funeral car, and three coaches—will ride again on the Stone Gables Estate property across three miles of eventually rebuilt track (currently, about a mile and a half of track have been completed). Torrico, who has decades of experience with steam trains and who most recently worked on a tourist railroad in Saratoga, N.Y., will serve as one of the engineers and manage the operation. On April 22, 2019, 154 years to the day Lincoln’s coffin came to Elizabethtown, the replica United States will take its first journey at the estate with all due pomp and circumstance: in this case, a brass band, a bevy of Civil War reenactors, a petting zoo, and pony rides. Attendees will also have the opportunity to walk through and tour the Lincoln Funeral Train. On April 23, VIP ticket holders will take a ride aboard the train, as well as enjoying cocktails and dinner. The United States will then remain at its new home in Elizabethtown, where history buffs and steam railroad aficionados will be able to visit and ride the train in its rebuilt splendor. For more information about the Lincoln Funeral Train and related events, visit: stonegablesestate.com |