Illinois Man Recreating Lincoln Funeral Train Car

An Illinois man is constructing a replica of the funeral train car that carried Abraham Lincoln's body from Washington D.C. to Springfield, Ill., in 1865.


The Arlington Heights Daily Herald reports that the car is scheduled for completion in 2015, the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's assassination.


David Kloke is the owner Kloke Locomotive Works in Elgin. He's been working on the project for about five years with the help of volunteers.


He says the plan is to have a historic locomotive pull the car from Washington D.C. to Baltimore. It then will be trucked to Springfield for display, with stops along the way.


The original car was built in 1864 as an office for Lincoln's travels. The car burned in a prairie fire in Minnesota in 1911.