Another private rail car that Presidents used was the "Georgia 300"
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. 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), 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. It ran until its retirement in 1982 after being made redundant as surplus due to the merger between Georgia Railroad and Family Lines.
Use by US Presidents
The Georgia 300 has hosted/carried Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. In 2004, presidential candidates John F. Kerry and running mate Sen. John Edwards, traveled aboard the car from St. Louis to Kingman, Ariz., following the Democratic Convention in Boston.
George H.W. Bush
The Georgia 300 was used as a support car during George H.W. Bush campaign to be president in 1992. This use is thought to have prompted further use of the car by other presidents.
Bill Clinton
The car again was used by Bill Clinton for his
21st Century Express train for the 1996 campaign season, in a nod to his 1992 campaign with a bus[SUP].[/SUP] The 13-car train used the Georgia 300 along with other Amtrak, private, and host railroad CSX equipment and engines.
Barack Obama
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 . The Federal Aviation Administration prevented private planes, news helicopters, balloonists and others from flying anywhere near the airspace above the train route. 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 Special Security Reasons".
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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