A crowd gathered on the West Main Street Bridge to see FDR's funeral train in 1945

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Here is the train at dawn in Charlottesville, Virginia:



Edited: no can do. The historical society has changed its name and its policy on linking to photographs. Here's an article from the Charlottesville Daily Progress with a lower-quality version of the photograph :

A crowd gathered on the West Main Street Bridge to see FDR's funeral train in 1945
The Daily Progress staff reports Apr 14, 2017

125 Years of Progress takes you inside The Daily Progress' archives every day in celebration of our 125 years serving Charlottesville and the rest of Central Virginia. Sponsored by Hanckel-Citizens Insurance Charlottesville



“The 11-car funeral train, drawn by two steam locomotives, slid quietly into the station at 6:20 a.m., as the armed guards, their officers and uniformed members of the Charlottesville Police Department saluted. Other stood silently with bowed heads.”

This was the scene at the Southern Railway Station on April 14, 1945, when the train carrying the body of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt paused briefly on its journey from Warm Springs, Ga. to Washington, D.C., and then on to his final resting place in Hyde Park, NY. A crowd numbering more than 1,000 lined the station platform and the West Main Street Bridge to catch a glimpse and pay their last respects.

“The President’s casket, covered by a large American flag and surrounded by floral decorations, was in the lighted rear portion of the last coach. A guard of honor, consisting of non-commissioned members of the various branches of the armed forces, stood motionless beside the coffin bearing their dead commander-in-chief. The crowd gazed silently.”

Shortly after noon that day, a non-denominational worship service was held in Cabell Hall. Dr. Henry Porter, pastor of First Baptist Church, offered a prayer noting that “Roosevelt’s courage and gallantry, despite physical afflictions, had ‘lifted up the hearts of the forgotten man. The grief at his death is shared by every freedom-loving person.’”

A day earlier, as the nation learned of the president’s death, The Daily Progress editorial noted: “The perspective is lacking today for an appraisal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s place in history, but it may be said with confidence that with the exception of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln, no man has played so decisive a role in the life of our country, and that no American has achieved a stature equal to his as a world figure.”

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That's looking to the northeast. The large white building above the tracks, where Main Street goes over the tracks, is the old Queen Charlotte Hotel. It was torn down years ago. The train stopped so that railway officials could use the telephone. Southern Railway trainmaster (and mayor of Alexandria from 1940 to 1949) William T. Wilkins rode the train from Monroe, Virginia, (yes, the town mentioned in "Wreck of the Old 97") up to Alexandria or DC.

The picture was taken from an interlocking tower at the northeast corner of the crossing where the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway crossed the Southern Railway.

FDR Funeral Train {edited: bad link}

The President’s last visit to Charlottesville, however, would be the morning of April 15th 14th. Amid the early morning darkness, local residents made their way to the Southern Railway Station, lining the West Main Street overhead crossing.

At 6:20 AM the two-steam locomotive pulling the 11-car funeral train eased into the station. President Roosevelt’s body lay in a casket covered with an American flag in the illuminated final car filled with flowers and a guard of honor all standing at attention. After resting for three minutes, the train pulled away, eventually reaching Washington at 9:50 AM the next morning later that morning.

Here's a thread at a forum for the TV show The Waltons about Roosevelt's funeral train:

The Outrage Part II

Jan 2, 2018 at 2:58am

Post by sandra09 on Jan 2, 2018 at 2:58am

I have just watched my daily dose of The Waltons, the episode was 'The Outrage' part II and I have some questions.
Did Franklin D Roosevelt die in a place called Warm Springs and is this in Virginia? Was he carried by train on his last journey, travelling slowly through all the states with four members of your armed forces standing to attention at each corner of his coffin? And lastly, did members of the public line the route in various towns, to pay their respects as he travelled slowly through?
You are probably thinking that I could have looked all this up on the Internet, I know I could, but I would much rather ask you all.

The first reply at that forum has a link to this:

Kenan Research Center, Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, Funeral Procession