George H.W. Bush’s coffin has boarded a special train that is carrying the former president’s casket to his final resting place, accompanied by his family.

Bush’s relatives, including son George W. Bush, left St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston following a funeral that was attended by about 1200 mourners.

The family headed to a facility in Spring, Texas, where a special funeral train departed with a final destination of College Station.

It is the eighth funeral train in US history and the first since Dwight D. Eisenhower’s body travelled from the National Cathedral in Washington through seven states to his Kansas hometown of Abilene 49 years ago.

Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train was the first, in 1865.

Earlier, former President George W. Bush and other family members attended St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, where the Bush family worshipped, to remember Bush.

About 1200 mourners attend the funeral service, which is the last public remembrance for the former president who will be laid to rest later today.

An honour guard escorted Bush’s flag-draped casket to the altar as attendees stood and sang The Star-Spangled Banner”.

Bush’s grandchildren, included Barbara Pierce Bush, a daughter of George W. Bush, and Noelle Lucila Bush, daughter of Jeb Bush, gave readings from the bible at his funeral in his home state of Texas.

Nancy Ellis LeBlond Sosa and Georgia Grace Koch, who are the daughters of Dorothy Bush Koch, read from the Corinthians.

Former Secretary of State James Baker remembered his longtime friend as having “had the courage of a warrior but the greater courage of a peacemaker” during an emotional eulogy.

Mr Baker began the eulogy with an apology. Using the nickname “Jefe,” which is Spanish for “boss,” he said he was going to brag about Bush, even though the former president hated boasting.

He called Bush the “best one-term president” in the nation’s history.

He also praised Bush’s grace after the fall of the Berlin Wall, saying that Bush understood that humility toward a fallen adversary “is the very best path.”

The only member of the Bush dynasty still in public office says the former president’s 16 other grandchildren grew up in awe of the man they knew as “gampy.”

George P. Bush told mourners that the former president would challenge his grandkids to games like “the first to sleep award.” The line drew laughs from those gathered.

Country music star Reba McEntire sung The Lord’s Prayer and the Oak Ridge Boys, who were one of the president’s favorite musical acts, sang Amazing Grace during the service.

The Rev. Russell Levenson, Jr. told mourners that Bush had a “resolute faith” and once asked what heaven would be like.

He told those gathered at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church that he imagined Bush was greeted in heaven by his wife, Barbara Bush, “with her hands on her hips, saying ‘What took you so long?”’

Rev. Levenson said it was OK to cry because Bush was never afraid to shed tears himself.

A special train painted to resemble Air Force One is carrying Bush’s casket, family and close friends about 115 kilometres to College Station, where he will be buried in a private service alongside his late wife, Barbara Bush, and their daughter Robin, who died of leukemia in 1953 at age 3.