National Railroad Museum

We headed back to Green Bay to visit the National Railroad Museum, which is near Lambeau Field (an interesting tour is offered which we had taken in June). The highlight of the museum for us was the Dwight D. Eisenhower train. This was the engine and cars that Dwight used in England as his remote command post during World War II. It was painted a combination of greens and grey to camouflage the train in the English Countryside. During this time the windows were covered with steel to protect against air bombs. We felt like we were walking through history, since this was the equivalent of Air Force One at the time, I mobile command post from which the war could be conducted.

Dwight D Eisenhower staff car

The other notable train was a Big Boy steam engine used to pull the trains over the passes in Wyoming and Utah during World War II. This train has one of the largest boilers ever assembled, so big it required an articulated carriage, and one that bent in the middle so the wheels could turn the curves while supporting such a large boiler. There was a movie that explained the uniqueness of these engines.

Big Boy Engine

The third interesting train was the Aerotrain build by General Motors in 1955. This was an attempt to have trains compete with cars and buses by providing the aerodynamic styling of the time (including tail fins for the caboose) with the hope of pulling the passenger trains at over 100 mph. The cars really looked funny – they were essentially bus bodies on train wheels, including luggage compartments that were accessed from the outside. Unfortunately, the ride became uncomfortable at just over 60 mph. Only three trains were built and they primarily served as commuter trains to Chicago after failing as longer distance trains.

Aerotrain

After our stop here we headed up to Upper Michigan spending the night at Country Village RV Park outside Ishpeming.