What Does Whistle Stop Tour Mean?

A whistle stop or whistle-stop 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, whistle-stop appearances were made from the open platform of an observation car or a private railroad car.

What does Whistle Stop mean?

(Entry 1 of 2) 1a : a small station at which trains stop only on signal : flag stop. b : a small community. 2 : a brief personal appearance especially by a political candidate usually on the rear platform of a train during the course of a tour.

Why is it called a whistle-stop tour?

Whenever a train stopped at a small station, the candidate made a short speech from the train itself and quickly moved on to the next town. Such small stations were called 'whistle stop' because trains only stopped there on request.