Named after the Norwegian explorer, the ''Roald Amundsen'' is a former Pullman Company private car; the last of seven Explorer-series cars built between 1927 and 1929 for the Pullman Company's pool of passenger cars. It was frequently used as the United States Presidential Rail Car, and was used for every president from Herbert Hoover through Dwight Eisenhower. During World War II, sister car ''

Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the East ...

'' was rebuilt as the official presidential private car; after the war, the ''Roald Amundsen'' was surplus to the Pullman Company's requirements and was sold, and became a business car for the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

. In 1971 it was donated to the

McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park is a railroad park located in Scottsdale, Arizona It features a gauge railroad, a Magma Arizona Railroad locomotive, a railroad museum, three model railroad clubs and a gauge live steam railroad. History In 196 ...

in Scottsdale, Arizona. In 2009 the ''Roald Amundsen'' was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

References

Bibliography * Klara, Robert (2010). FDR's Funeral Train: A Betrayed Widow, a Soviet Spy, and a Presidency in the Balance *

External links

Historic Significance and Integrity Assessment Report for the Roald Amundsen Pullman Car

Scottsdale Railroad Museum

FDR Funeral Train
Rail passenger cars of the United States Private railroad cars Transportation of the president of the United States {{US-train-stub