President George HW Bush To Be Taken By Train To His Library Grave
Recently deceased President H.W. Bush, who was the 41st President of the United States and the father of the 43rd POTUS, will be taken by train to his final resting place. Bush’s body will be transported on the Bush 4141, a locomotive named in his honor.
The train will carry him from Washington, D.C. to the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas. Many former Presidents are buried at their Presidential Libraries, and Bush will be part of this tradition, according to CNN.
The Bush 4141 was commissioned in 2005. This is a specially-painted locomotive with a white body, long blue vertical bars and Presidential seal. The paint job is designed to look like Air Force One, the jet tasked with carting the sitting President across the skies.
Bush himself drove the train for about 2 miles after its 2005 unveiling.
He will be the first late President since Dwight Eisenhower to be taken to his gravesite by train. Eisenhower was transported to Kansas in 1969.
The George H.W. Bush Presidential Library has full-length portraits of both the President and his First Lady, Barbara Bush, hanging next to the Presidential seal. The library includes exhibits dedicated to the legacy of the Bush family and a collection of Bush’s public service achievements, according to the library’s official website.
The flag flies at half-staff at the George W. Bush Presidential Library in honor of George H. W. Bush. More today on @NBCDFW. #rip41 #GeorgeBush pic.twitter.com/mn377hTd4d
— Robert McMurrey (@robertmcmurrey) December 1, 2018
However, now is not a good time to visit. All events scheduled at the library have been canceled in honor of President Bush 41. In the coming weeks and months, many events honoring this former President are likely to become part of the library’s schedule.
Bush’s Presidential library is part of the Texas A&M campus, according to the Houston Chronicle.
President Bush will be laid to rest with his wife Barbara and their daughter Robin.
The gravesite will open to the public on Saturday after the family’s graveside services are held. Bush’s grave is behind a gated fence where a large pond is nearby.
Bush’s body will lie in state until Wednesday morning, which has been decreed as a national day of mourning by the sitting President, Donald Trump, according to CNBC.
George Herbert Walker Bush was 94. His wife, Barbara, passed away in August at age 92. Bush has a long history in the White House, serving as Vice President under Ronald Reagan before becoming President. George and Barbara Bush lived in the White House for 12 years before departing when the Clintons took over in the 1990s. Following his death, political leaders and celebrities on both sides of the aisle took to social media to express their grief and share memories of the former President.
