| Georgia 300 | |
| Manufacturer: | Pullman Company |
| Ordernumber: | Lot 6323 |
| Yearconstruction: | 1930 |
| Fleetnumbers: | 300 |
The Georgia 300 is a privately owned railroad car owned by John H. "Jack" Heard of Florida. It has been used by several recent presidents for various campaign related Whistle Stop Tours.
Georgia 300,[1] [2] is a heavyweight observation car from the golden era of rail travel that was built by the Pullman Standard Co. shops in 1930.[1] [3] Sporting a Packard blue with silver striping livery, the train car operated as a lounge car named the General Polk on the New Orleans-New York Crescent Limited (operated by the L&N, West Point Route, Southern, and Pennsylvania[4]), and was later purchased by the Georgia Railroad and reconfigured to Office Car 300. The Georgia Railroad used the car in trips to venues like The Masters Tournament and the Kentucky Derby.[2] It ran until its retirement in 1982 after being made redundant as surplus due to the merger between Georgia Railroad and Family Lines.[1] [2] [3]
Heard, who owns a rail yard in Orange Park, Florida, purchased the car in 1985 and made a series of refurbishments in 1986, 1989, 1995, 2000[1] [3] and 2008. The car has a dining room, an observation lounge, one master bedroom, two additional bedrooms, two bathrooms with showers, a section lounge, crew quarters, and kitchen.[1] [3] It is Amtrak compliant and compatible to be used on most scheduled Amtrak trains as well as other private venues.[5] [6]
In 2020, the car was loaned to U.S. Sugar Corporation, who used it in excursion service as part of their heritage Sugar Express tourist passenger train.[7]
The Georgia 300 has hosted/carried Presidents George H. W. Bush,[8] Bill Clinton,[9] [10] and Barack Obama.[3] In 2004, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry and running mate Sen. John Edwards, travelled aboard the car from St. Louis, Missouri to Kingman, Arizona on the Believe In America Train Tour, following the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston.[3]