The history of the automobile is far from a single story. It is a constellation of narratives, bringing together enthusiasts and exceptional machines. To celebrate these extraordinary stories, Rétromobile presents One Vehicle, One Story, a video series that gives the floor to passionate voices from every corner of the motoring world. In this episode: the Bugatti Presidential railcar, the only surviving example of its series, presented at Rétromobile 2026 by Sylvain Vernerey, Managing Director of the Cité du Train in Mulhouse.
in video

The Bugatti Presidential railcar: a UFO on rails

At Rétromobile 2026, the unexpected star of the show did not have four wheels. It had many more, measured 23 metres in length, and roared thanks to four Bugatti Royale engines. The Bugatti Presidential railcar, the sole survivor of its 88 siblings, travelled from the Cité du Train in Mulhouse to take its place of honour at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. A monument of French railway heritage and an absolutely remarkable concentration of innovation, it owes its existence both to Ettore Bugatti’s mechanical genius and to the meticulous preservation work undertaken by the Cité du Train in Mulhouse

Bugatti Royale: when commercial failure became a railway opportunity

 

To understand the birth of the railcar, one must first tell the story of the Royale. Since the late 1920s, Ettore Bugatti had nurtured a dream as outsized as his own ambitions: to build the car of kings, an automobile that would surpass in power, luxury and price everything the market could offer. The Type 41, known as the “Royale”, appeared in 1926. A colossus of nearly three tonnes, powered by a 12.7-litre straight-eight engine developing 300 horsepower, it was sold at a price six times higher than the most expensive Rolls-Royce. Ettore had planned to produce twenty-five. In the end, he would sell only three during his lifetime.

The Great Depression that followed the stock market crash of 1929 swept away the potential buyers. None of the three intended kings - Alfonso XIII of Spain, Zog of Albania and Carol of Romania - was able to acquire one. Ettore Bugatti found himself with 25 Royale engines on his hands and no outlet for them. Yet as much an entrepreneur as a mechanical genius, he did not admit defeat. He sensed another opportunity: railway companies, increasingly concerned by competition from the automobile, were looking to modernise their networks. These very engines would go on to write the next chapter of the story.

 

Bugatti: nine months to revolutionise rail travel

 

In 1932, Ettore Bugatti met Raoul Dautry, director of the Réseau de l’État railway network. The proposal was bold: to design an express railcar powered by the Royale’s eight-cylinder engines, detuned to 200 horsepower for reliability. Ettore and his son Jean needed only nine months to draw and design the plans for a new-generation train. The result was breathtaking.

Highly streamlined, these 23-metre coaches were capable of reaching 130 to 140 km/h in commercial service. But Bugatti, forever in pursuit of performance, aimed even higher. In 1934, Jean Bugatti took the controls in an attempt to break the 200 km/h world record. He came close, reaching 196 km/h. Legend has it that Ettore flew into a monumental rage over those few missing kilometres. It is worth returning to the context of the period: the average French person was still travelling along country lanes behind an ox cart. And suddenly, an utterly astonishing machine appeared on the railway line at nearly 200 km/h.

From spring 1933 onwards, the first examples were delivered to what would become the SNCF a few years later. On 30 July 1933, French President Albert Lebrun travelled aboard a Bugatti railcar to attend the inauguration of the Cherbourg maritime station, covering 372 kilometres in 3 hours and 15 minutes. It was a founding journey for the machine, which would consequently enter history under the name “Presidential railcar”.

 

Bugatti Presidential railcar: the last of its line

 

In total, 88 Bugatti railcars were built in six different versions, with engine configurations varying from one series to another. The model known as the “Presidential”, the shortest and most powerful version, fitted with four Bugatti Royale engines for a total displacement of around 50 litres, was produced in only a small series of a few examples. Its fuel consumption, like its ambitions, allowed no compromise: 400 litres per 100 kilometres. This energy abyss, combined with the rise of diesel in the 1950s, ultimately hastened the retirement of the entire series.

Most Bugatti railcars ran for twenty to twenty-five years before being withdrawn from service and then destroyed. This one was extraordinarily lucky: recovered by the SNCF to be converted into a test and measurement vehicle, that reconditioning saved it from destruction. All its peers have disappeared. Today, it is the last example in the world. A piece of heritage in every sense, and a source of pride that Sylvain Vernerey expresses without chauvinism: “Even if the Bugatti name suggests Italian origins, Ettore was Alsatian, and therefore very much French.”

 

An absolutely incredible concentration of innovations

 

Beyond its performance, the Bugatti railcar was a revolution in design. The driver was neither at the front nor at the rear of the vehicle: he sat in the centre, perched in a raised turret that offered a 360-degree view and allowed him to drive in both directions without ever changing cab. In the age of steam, turning a locomotive required placing it on a turntable. With the Bugatti railcar, the driver simply remained at his post. Someone still had to think of it.

Added to this were reversible seats, allowing passengers to travel facing the direction of motion or to create face-to-face spaces, and above all an aerodynamic profile that was remarkably ahead of its time. When one looks at the silhouette of the railcar today, it is difficult not to see, sketched several decades in advance, the future line of the TGV.

 

A restoration worthy of the myth

 

When the Cité du Train in Mulhouse recovered the vehicle, it had been profoundly altered by the SNCF for its role as a measurement vehicle. Everything had to be restored, inside and out, to return it to its original configuration. The operation was made possible thanks to the SNCF workshops of the period, future Technicentres, which still held the original plans, the know-how and the ability to reproduce historic materials, some of which have sadly since disappeared. The upholstery was entirely remade identically, with fabrics reproduced in faithful respect of the period models. The bodywork and paintwork benefited from simply exceptional craftsmanship.

 

Rétromobile 2026: 600 kilometres and a historic photograph

 

Transporting this unique machine from Mulhouse to Paris Expo Porte de Versailles was, in itself, a challenge worthy of its history. Sylvain Vernerey followed the convoy from start to finish, balancing a duty of vigilance over the transport conditions with extraordinary excitement at every kilometre covered. In total, 600 kilometres, including imposed routes and detours, separated Mulhouse from the capital. The convoy passed through places steeped in history, including Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, where a photograph of the convoy at the foot of the Cross of Lorraine was immortalised. And, as if to bring the story full circle, Michel Bugatti came to meet the convoy in his Bugatti 40, offering everyone present a truly historic image.

 

Discover the Bugatti Railcar and many other exceptional vehicles in Rétromobile’s One Vehicle, One Story podcast. To make sure you never miss an episode, visit the Rétromobile website and listen on all streaming platforms.