“Great Floridian 2000” Presidential Train

History of the “Dorothy Walker Bush Great Floridian 2000” Train Exhibit

The “Dorothy Walker Bush Great Floridian 2000” was a proposed museum- or memorial-style train exhibit made up of vintage railcars intended to honor Dorothy Walker Bush, who was the grandmother of President George W. Bush and a Florida resident (and supposedly a rail enthusiast). The name “Great Floridian” refers to Florida’s program of honoring citizens who have made significant contributions to the state. The train collection included old railcars from various sources, including a pair of presidential train cars, a mail car used in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, a “Jim Crow” segregation-era car, and a former ice cream parlor housed within an old Pullman Company rail car.

Tony Campos and the “Great Train Heist”

Tony Campos, a Cuban immigrant, and former corrections officer, first entered Bush family circles as an advance man for George H. W. Bush’s 1988 presidential campaign. After the election, Jeb Bush recommended him for a position in his father’s administration, and from that point on, Campos cultivated a close relationship with the Bushes, particularly George H. W.’s mother, Dorothy Walker Bush. When Dorothy died in 1992, Campos would later exploit both the family’s affection for her and his own connections.

In 1999, Campos wrote to newly elected Governor Jeb Bush proposing a small museum in Dorothy’s honor inside the historic train station in Hollywood, Florida, where she had once arrived on the famed Orange Blossom Special. Two years later, it was announced that Dorothy had been named a “Great Floridian 2000,” an honor Campos himself had sought for her as part of a far more ambitious plan. Great Floridian honorees are recognized for contributions to their community, the state, or the nation. But Jeb Bush was unenthusiastic, emailing Campos that his grandmother “would be turning over in her grave on the designation.”

Campos’s ultimate vision went well beyond a modest exhibit: he planned a full-scale rail attraction, the “Dorothy Walker Bush Great Floridian 2000” train, to anchor the future museum. By 2007, the venture had secured more than $1.2 million in grants, including $745,000 from the state. Yet progress lagged. In 2006, Campos admitted the restoration would miss its deadlines, blaming hurricanes, a break-in, unreliable historical records, scarce funding, and delays from a PBS film crew.

That October, the Florida Division of Historical Resources demanded an accounting of the grant money. Campos promptly vanished—ignoring calls, letters, and even his office at the station. The state threatened legal action and launched an investigation in 2007, uncovering that hundreds of thousands of dollars had been siphoned for his personal use, including extravagant purchases of G.I. Joe and Barbie dolls. Arrested years later, Campos accepted a 2013 plea agreement, receiving probation and an order to repay $375,000.

The Abandoned Train Exhibit

The abandoned project was left to decay behind a warehouse in Hialeah. Among the rusting relics were two railcars stenciled “POTUS I” and “POTUS II,” once believed to be presidential support cars. Coupled to them sat a 1918 Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show postal car, a Direct Orient Express ice-cream parlor car, and a segregation-era “Jim Crow” coach. Vandals had cut gaping holes in the floors, shattered or stolen windows—some pocked with bullet holes—and covered the interiors with graffiti.

The 1924 Florida East Coast (FEC) Steam Engine 253 was part of the collection at some point in time, but was acquired by the Florida East Coast Railway Museum in Fort Pierce in 2009. In 2017, the museum was shuttered when the city sold the building that the museum occupied. The engine and equipment were moved into storage at the U.S. Sugar complex in Clewistown, FL, alongside the FEC 148, another steam engine undergoing restoration. In 2023, FEC 253 was sold to Jimmy Rane and now sits on display in Abbeville, Alabama.

Because the FEC owned the track behind the warehouse in Hialeah, the company eventually offered the collection of abandoned railcars to anyone willing to pay for removal. By June 2016, the train cars had vanished; their final destination remains unknown, though it is assumed they were simply scrapped or destroyed.

The Presidential Communications Railroad Car “Crate”

The Ferdinand Magellan is a historic presidential railroad car built in 1929 by the Pullman Company and heavily modified in 1942 for use by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Reinforced with armor plating and bullet-resistant windows, it served as a secure “rolling White House,” complete with a conference room, private dining area, a presidential bedroom and bath, and a specially designed elevator to accommodate Roosevelt’s wheelchair. Officially designated U.S. Car No. 1, it was later used by Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower before being retired in 1958. Today, the Ferdinand Magellan is preserved and on display at the Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Miami, Florida.

The official call sign for the Presidential Train was “City Hall,” used whenever the train was in active service. However, personnel from the Camp David communications team, who maintained the onboard equipment, informally referred to it as “Crate,” which accompanied the Ferdinand Magellan during the 1950s. The “Crate” consisted of two 85-foot, World War II–era railcars painted in olive drab and equipped with three-axle trucks.

One of these, originally a hospital car, was converted into living quarters for Secret Service and White House Army Signal Agency (WHASA) / White House Communications Agency (WHCA) staff. The Morn Staff Car (labeled POTUS 2 / USA 89426) interior featured a small kitchen, bunks for sleeping, a compact bathroom with a shower, and a modest living area. For recreation, an old Hallicrafters SX-63 shortwave receiver was installed.

The second was the General Albert J. Myer SC-1 Communications Car (labeled POTUS 1 / USA 87325), which was a converted railcar that had been completely stripped and rebuilt to meet operational needs. A large interior window was installed so that the radio operations could be observed from the hallway connecting the railcars. Seated at the console, you would have a large glass window behind you—this faced the walkway on the car’s left side. Beyond that walkway was another large exterior window in the car’s body. From the station platform, anyone looking through that outside window could see directly into the car, with the entire console and its operators clearly visible.

When the Ferdinand Magellan was retired from service in 1958, “Crate” was relocated to the New Cumberland Army Depot in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, during the 1960s and 1970s. The pair made their final official journey in 1961, when President John F. Kennedy traveled to Philadelphia for the Army–Navy football game. The two cars were stored at Indian Town Gap Army Depot near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, primarily because President Eisenhower used them several times, and it was close to Gettysburg and his farm.

“Crate” remained in active service until it was stripped of its communications equipment and retired from Presidential duty sometime in 1974. It is believed that the Communications Car (Myer) was transferred to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, while the Staff Car (Morn) was sent to Fort Eustis, Virginia. The Myer was purchased by NASA in 1978 and used by their shortline railroad system at Kennedy Space Center. NASA disposed of the Myer in 1987, and it was acquired by the Gold Coast Railroad Museum. The museum was also informed about several other hospital-style cars that were in Fort Eustis. While museum personnel were at Fort Eustis, they discovered the Morn still in storage and acquired it, reuniting the “Crate.”

Work on these railcars was underway when Hurricane Andrew struck in 1992, causing extensive damage to both the Gold Coast Railroad Museum and the cars being restored. FEMA pledged to return all non-profits to their pre-Andrew condition, and the cars Myer, Morn, the Jim Crow combine, and Hospital Car 89436 were selected for repairs at Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

The Hospital Car and Jim Crow car were successfully restored and returned to the Gold Coast Railroad Museum. However, the Myer and Morn were never restored due to a lack of funds and insufficient documentation of their original interiors. By the time NASA purchased the Myer in 1978, the car’s communications equipment had already been removed and its interior modified. After Steamtown, both cars remained in storage for several years until an executive order directed that the Myer and Morn be either donated or sold to Tony Campo’s Hollywood Railroad Station Museum.

There are rumors that only one of the railcars was destroyed, while the other was acquired by a group, but which one was acquired/destroyed, and what group is unknown.

Direct Orient Express Ice Cream Parlor

Although its name might suggest a link to the famous European Orient Express, this railcar’s “Direct Orient Express” moniker actually referred to the ice cream parlor once operated inside it. Built in 1912 by the Pullman Company as a palace car for the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad, Pullman Car 2409 originally carried dignitaries between Richmond, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. It was rebuilt in the 1920s–30s, gaining upgrades such as air conditioning.

During World War II, the car took on a completely new role when it was sold to the Clyde Beatty Circus and converted into a “pie car,” where performers and crew could buy treats like soda, chips, and ice cream. The circus wintered on Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, at the site of today’s Gateway Shopping Center.

In the 1950s, the car was sold to Royal American Shows, then the largest midway in North America, and continued to serve as a pie car for another three decades as it traveled each season from the show’s Tampa winter quarters to state fairs across the Midwest and Canada. Rising railroad costs in the early 1980s led Royal American to shift to trucks, retiring the car from service.

Abandoned in a Tampa woodland, the railcar was discovered in 1983 by Richard Winer, author of books on haunted houses and the Bermuda Triangle, who purchased it for $3,500. He had it moved by rail to a siding at William Thies and Sons, a beer distribution plant in Wilton Manors, Florida, and began restoration work in November 1986. Completed in 1987, Winer persuaded the Fort Lauderdale City Commission that the restored Car 2409 would enhance the planned Riverwalk and attract visitors downtown. He opened the Direct Orient Express ice cream parlor at 150 West Broward Boulevard. Two years later, however, Winer was evicted to make way for a 1,200-car parking garage, and the railcar was moved back into storage.

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