Honorary locomotive to carry Bush to grave
When the curtain parted in College Station revealing a twotoned blue locomotive standing nearly 16 feet tall and bearing the number 4141 in his honor, former president George H.W. Bush looked around excitedly, his face breaking into a smile.
One word left his lips: Wow. Thirteen years later, that same Union Pacific locomotive will escort the 41st president to his final resting place in College Station on Thursday afternoon after funeral ceremonies in Washington and Houston.
The train carrying his remains will leave a Union Pacific Railroad facility in Spring, a community north of Houston, and travel the 70 miles to College Station. Bush will be buried there, alongside his late wife and daughter, on the site of his presidential library at Texas A&M University.
The locomotive, painted the same blue colors that adorned Air Force One during Bush’s presidency, was unveiled by the company in October 2005. At the time, Bush was fascinated by the train’s mechanics and asked whether he could take it for a spin, according to Mike Iden, a retired Union Pacific general director of car and locomotive engineering.
After some brief training and under the supervision of an engineer, “the former president operated the locomotive for about two miles,” Iden said.
An Associated Press article at the time said the unveiling stirred memories in Bush of his childhood travels with his family. “We just rode on the railroads all the time, and I’ve never forgotten it,” the AP quoted Bush saying.
The former president had been a regular fixture on Texas A&M’s campus since his library opened there in 1997. According to its website, he occasionally dropped in on classes at the Bush School of Government and Public Service and was even spotted at the rec center when in good health.
By car, the ride from Houston to College Station typically takes 90 minutes, but the announced schedule for Locomotive 4141 will be twice as long. The university said Saturday that the president’s casket would be unloaded at a railroad stop near campus. The funeral procession will then travel down George Bush Drive, with a brief arrival ceremony followed by a private interment. The campus will be closed Thursday.