The upper level of my two-level layout is all narrow gauge, depicting a portion of the former Denver & Rio Grande Western’s Fourth Division line in southwestern Colorado and northern New Mexico.
Nixon's 1968 Campaign Train
On October 22, 1968, a whistle-stop campaign train for presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon traveled from Cincinnati to Toledo via Columbus, Marion and Lima, Ohio – with a stop in Springfield. According to Trains magazine (Nov 1971 issue), this was the only campaign train that operated during the 1968 Presidential campaign. I was not particularly political in those days of political upheaval, but seeing Nixon and a campaign train was enough to get me to attend. These are some images that I captured that day.
Epilogue: Richard M. Nixon won the 1968 election, defeating Democrat Hubert Humphrey and Edmund Muskie. Four years later, Nixon again won, in a landslide election, over George McGovern and Sargent Shriver. However, the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-up by Nixon and his advisors led to his resignation in 1974. Spiro T. Agnew resigned earlier in 1973 over corruption charges, stemming from his days as Governor of Maryland. Gerald Ford was appointed by Nixon to replace Agnew as Vice President, and Ford ascended to the Presidency upon Nixon’s departure, never having been elected to either office by the voters or the Electoral College.
Springfield Union Station, built in 1910, was demolished in 1969, a year later after these photos were taken, to make way for an urban renewal project. I believe that its last regularly schedule train was NYC’s Ohio State Limited, which was discontinued on December 2, 1967.
Campaign whistle-stop trains have largely become a thing of the past. I feel fortunate that I was able to witness this bit of history during the turbulent 1960s.