Whistle stop train tour

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For the original railroad term see whistle stop.

A whistlestop or whistlestop tour is a style of political campaigning where the politician makes a series of brief appearances or speeches at a number of small towns over a short period of time. Originally, whistlestops were conducted from the open platform of an observation car or a private railroad car.

In the 1800s, when travel by railroad was the most common means of traveling long distances over the vast expanses of land in the United States, politicians would charter tour trains which would travel from town to town. At each stop, the candidate would make a speech from the train, but might rarely set foot on the ground.

Use of the term has spread to cover any travel done very quickly and with only brief pauses. It is common to hear this expression in the United Kingdom and other countries as well as the United States where the term originated.