participating and the audience for being here. please step outside and we can continue the conversation about "mr. civil rights." [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> you are watching american history tv all weekend on c-span3. to join the conversation, like us on facebook. >> all weekend, american history tv is featuring green bay, wisconsin, and the packers. the team is the only nonprofit community owned major league sports team in the u.s. we recently traveled to green bay to explore the city's rich

history. learn more about green bay all the weekend on american history tv. >> we are currently standing in the national railroad museum center in front of the eisenhower locomotive. the national railroad museum has 33 acres total. the main part of the property is 22 acres where we have exhibits on the exterior and interior. where we are standing right now really is the highlight of the exhibits. we have the eisenhower locomotive. newly brought back from england. we have the big boy union pacific 4017, one of the largest locomotives ever built and the most powerful. we have an electric locomotive. and of course the pullman porters exhibit, which is a highlight of the museum. we are standing in front of the eisenhower locomotive. it was built in 1937.

special one. a it is extremely aerodynamic. it was modeled after a race car. it was a huge deal. it was very popular in the way it looked in england. it had 80 inch diameter wheels. it has three cylinders as well, a very different sign from the two cylinder and four-cylinder trains you would normally find. this particular train was built in england. there were 35 built at the time. there are only six remaining. we have the only one in the united states. it was originally built as a high-speed passenger train. its sister train was able to reach the world steams beat -- steam speed record of 126 miles per hour. this is the fastest steam locomotive in the world. this one has that potential. our eisenhower locomotive was originally called the

sparrowhawk. and then became known as the golden shuttle. it was used for high-speed transportation between leeds and london prior to world war ii. >> ♪ over there over there send the word, send the word over there ♪ >> during the war, they took the entire fleet of them, repainted horrible black/brown color and used it primarily to move troops from one place to the other. general eisenhower, the supreme allied commander in world war ii in the european theater, use d this type of train as his air force one, so to speak. he had several passenger cars, which we have bayonet one and bayonet two. he used them as his mobile command post as well. this particular locomotive made a number of trips between england and scotland during the war. after the war, it was back to

passenger service until the early 1960's. the engine we have was renamed the dwight d. eisenhower in 1945 an honor to eisenhower who was a general in world war ii. he had a tremendous impact on how the war ended in the european theater. they wanted to honor him in some way. this was the type of engine used by dwight d. eisenhower. it wasn't necessarily the same engine as during the war. they switched out engines all the time. the two passenger cars behind it, one of which was armored, these were used by eisenhower and his staff. if you go into the armored car, the horrible grey car, it doesn't look like much. but this was used extensively in england, especially between england and scotland. he would need to make the run between the two.

this is the car he would use. it was called the bayonet two. if you walk into it, you have the experience of what it was like for him. it is dark in there because of the armor plating. you walk into a room where they converted sleeping rooms into a kind of office area. he used this for meetings and working with his staff. the first room you go into is his bedroom. he has a second room attached that was used as a dressing room and also considered a private office. the other rooms are all basic small bedrooms that his staff was on. he had a private attendant that helped him out. as well as several other passenger cars with additional step that would come along as well. the locomotive got here first. it was a long process, arriving to the museum. in 1959, shortly after the exam -- museum was designated as a

national museum. we had only been open three years. this woman comes in. she had grown up in england in the leeds area. she decided she would start talking to the gardener. she was telling him about how was this one train called the dwight d. eisenhower. it turned out the gardener was our board chairman. we did not have a big staff at that time. she was talking, she said we should get this train for the national railroad museum. the gardener/chairman of the board got it into his head we were going to get the train. he started a series of letters to the british railway board basically saying we want the train. fairly promptly rebuffed. they said there were many years of service left and they were not going to send it over. he left it alone and started bargaining for another train. the union pacific big boy

locomotive. in the process of speaking to that individual, the president of the union pacific, they found they had people they knew in common. then were able to eventually get an audience with prince philip, who was the final person to give approval to give us the locomotive. in 1963, approval was given. in 1964, it found its way to the u.s. in september, it was dedicated with dwight d. eisenhower here on the premises for that. to really appreciate something or understand something, humans need to see things in person. you need to be immersed by them. you need to touch them, taste them, smell them. you need to feel what it is like to learn something fully. that is a big part of what we do or any museum does.

to have those actual objects so you can learn. besides doing that, the people who you are with add to the experience. you have the whole family walking onto the train, or up to the big boy, it is the discussion between the generations that become so important and intrinsic to how you learn and enjoy things. >> throughout the weekend, american history tv is featuring green bay, wisconsin. our staff recently traveled there to learn about its rich history and to learn more about green bay and other cities, go to www.c-span.org/localcontent. you are watching american history tv on c-span3. our campaign 2014 coverage continues with a week full of debates. monday night at 8:00, the georgia governor's debate. c-span2, theon

montana debates. at 9:00 on c-span, the south carolina governor's debate between five candidates. hursdayand independent morgan e reeves. and thursday night, live at iowa district he debate between steven kick and mauer. debates for the control of congress. >> each week, "american artifacts" take city museums and historic places. from the founding of the united states, george washington encouraged the creation of a botanic garden in the nation's