Train Alive: General Eisenhower 1942-45

Train Alive by Keith Joyce. The train that carried General Eisenhower across Britain and France 1942-1945.

During WW2 American General Dwight Eisenhower had a special train for travelling across the UK and Europe. While the Gresley’s Class A4 60008 locomotive and two carriages are in the National Rail Museum, USA, the details of the carriages have remained unknown till now.

Albert Phillips, a booking clerk at King’s Cross Station conscripted into the Royal Artillery in 1939, was on the train as Eisenhower’s personal coach attendant. Clearing out his papers, his grandson Keith Joyce found a plan of the train – the only one known to exist.

This book provides a brief history of ‘Train Alive’ before showing plans for individual carriages.