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UNITED STATES: GOVERNMENT :
TRANSPORTATION: RAILROAD:
Obama Makes His Way by Train to Washington


Links to Photographs by Bob Vogel


Bob Vogel's photographs appear on the New York Subway Website
http://world.nycsubway.org/

Bob Vogel is also a frequent contributor to the Philly_Traction group on
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<http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1458219>

<http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1458220>

<http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1458224>

<http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1458225>

<http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1458227>


Obama Makes His Way by Train to Washington
By JEFF ZELENY
Published: January 17, 2009
New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/us/politics/18obama.html>

PHILADELPHIA - President-elect Barack Obama stepped onto a vintage train
car, built at a time when a black man's ascendancy to the presidency was
impossible in America, and traveled to Washington on Saturday in a
three-day prelude to his inauguration as the country's 44th president.

As he did throughout his campaign, Mr. Obama evoked imagery of Abraham
Lincoln, in word and deed, as he embarked on an abridged version of
Lincoln's journey by rail to the capital before his own inaugural
festivities in 1861. The trip offered Mr. Obama, who on Tuesday will be
sworn in as the first African-American president, a segue from celebrating
his victory to confronting the daunting challenges that await him in
office.

"While our problems may be new, what is required to overcome them is not,"
Mr. Obama said. "What is required is the same perseverance and idealism
that our founders displayed. What is required is a new declaration of
independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives - from ideology
and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry - an appeal not to our easy
instincts but to our better angels."

Mr. Obama opened his inauguration celebration at 30th Street Station in
Philadelphia, where supporters gathered to send him off. He was joined on
stage by his wife, Michelle, their two daughters, Malia and Sasha, and a
contingent of friends from Chicago and beyond who have been by the Obamas'
side throughout their two-year odyssey to the White House.



----------------------------------------


Transcript
Obama in Delaware
Published: January 17, 2009
New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/17/us/politics/17text-obama-delaware.html>

Following is the prepared text of Barack Obama's remarks in Wilmington,
Del., as provided by the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

Thank you, Joe, for that welcome. And thank you, Wilmington, for giving us
such a great send-off.

It was just under five months ago that Joe Biden stood beside me on the
steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield to accept my invitation to
run for Vice President of the United States of America.

I chose Joe because I knew where he came from, even if I hadn't spent much
time here -because you can learn a lot about a person's hometown through
the deeds that they've done. Joe has always fought for the middle class,
while forging the consensus to get things done. He has supported the cops
and firefighters and families who form the backbone of our communities,
while emerging as a statesman in the community of nations. And for
thirty-six years, Delaware has sent Joe Biden to change Washington, and
Washington hasn't changed him. Instead, Joe Biden has changed Washington.

The people of Delaware know this better than anyone. Because Joe is still
the scrappy kid from Scranton whose family moved here - to Wilmington - in
search of a new beginning. They'd known their share of hardships, and they
would come to know more. They didn't have much money. But Joe Senior
taught his son about the values that stretched longer than the dollar: the
dignity of a hard day's work; the primacy of family; the dream that anyone
should be able to make it if they try; and the simple lesson that when we
Americans get knocked down, we always - always - get back up on our feet.

Those are values that the American people hold in common. They are shared
by Irish Catholics from Wilmington and African Americans from the South
Side of Chicago, and by Hispanics and Asians and Native Americans all
across this great land. They form a foundation for our success, and lift
us up when we face adversity.


<snip>



Packing a nation's hopes, Obama rides rails to DC
By JENNIFER LOVEN and NANCY BENAC
Associated Press
<http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/
ALeqM5gJKgWvqj_NGE3zAYxnidI319krhgD95P45G80>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/8ucug8>


ABOARD THE INAUGURAL EXPRESS (AP) - Tracking Abraham Lincoln's historic
path to Washington, President-elect Barack Obama launched a four-day
inaugural celebration Saturday before thousands of chilled but cheering
onlookers from Philadelphia to the nation's capital. He promised to bring
the country "a new Declaration of Independence" - free from small
thinking, prejudice and bigotry.

Obama invoked a grand heritage of American giants as he appealed "not to
our easy instincts but to our better angels," an echo of Lincoln's first
inaugural address. He took note of the enormous challenges that lie ahead
and promised to act with "fierce urgency," a phrase often used by the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr.

Riding a vintage railcar on his whistle-stop trip to Washington, Obama
carried with him the hopes of a nation weary of war, frightened of
economic chaos and searching for better days. Vice President-elect Joe
Biden joined the journey en route, from his home in Delaware, and spoke
for many when he said he was excited and ready for Tuesday.

Then, sobered by the challenges of governing, Biden added: "I think it's
Wednesday we need to be ready."

Washington pulsed with anticipation of Obama's swearing in as the nation's
first black president. The city was aflutter with preparations for four
days of parties and pomp, shadowed at every turn by layer upon layer of
security. For every banner or piece of bunting that was going up around
the city, there was a concrete barrier or metal fence at the ready as
well.



----------------------------------------


Obama begins train journey to Washington for inauguration
Ron Soliman / Associated Press
Crowds wait for the arrival of President-elect Barack Obama outside the
Wilmington train station.
President-elect Barack Obama pledges to take up the work of America's
founding fathers and invokes Lincoln at a rally in Philadelphia. He is
joined by Vice President-elect Joe Biden in Delaware.
By Mike Dorning and Mark Silva
January 18, 2009
Los Angeles Times : Inauguration
<http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/inauguration/
la-na-inaug-obama-train18-2009jan18,0,861176.story>

A shorter URL for the above link:

<http://tinyurl.com/88acjf>


"We know that the American people are facing adversity, and the time has
come to pick ourselves up once again," Obama said.

"This is the moment that we have to come together for the sake of our
country," he said. "It was here in Delaware that the Constitution was
first ratified. . . . And now it falls to us to carry forward that
American story to make it our own . . . to ensure that everyone in this
country can make it if they try."

Before he began, the crowd behind the rostrum sang Happy Birthday to the
president-elect's wife, Michelle Obama.

The presidential whistle-stop today drew an outdoor crowd of thousands in
the hometown of Vice President-elect Biden, introduced by an Amtrak
conductor here as "Amtrak's No. 1 commuter" after three decades of taking
the train from home to work in the U.S. Senate after the loss of his first
wife and 1-year-old daughter in a car crash many years ago.

"It's not every day you get to do your daily commute with the next
president of the United States of America," Biden told the crowd, with an
introduction of Obama billing this trip as "the beginning of another
longer journey for our country.

"The weather's cold," said Biden, wrapped in a red scarf and black
overcoat. "A deeper chill of worry and concern have gripped the nation. .
. . Millions of Americans have been knocked down. Our economy is
struggling. We're a nation at war. Sometimes, it's difficult to believe
we'll see the spring again. But I tell you, spring is on the way with this
new administration.

"This is more than an ordinary train ride," Biden told his audience. "This
is a new beginning."

Riding a 1939-vintage, royal-blue "Georgia 300" rail car which presidents
and candidates before him have used, Obama drew crowds along his path on a
frigid winter day's journey.

Obama started this daylong, 137-mile train trip in Philadelphia, where he
delivered a pledge "to take up the work" that the patriots of American
independence had started there.


----------------------------------------


Obama's historic train trip
By Lynn Sweeton January 17, 2009 1:07 PM
By Abdon Pallasch
Chicago Sun-Times Political Writer
<http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/01/obamas_historic_train_trip.html>


PHILADELPHIA -- Evoking yet another comparison with Abraham Lincoln,
President-elect Barack Obama launched his march to the inauguration with a
whistlestop speech at 30st Street Station here as Lincoln did 150 years
ago.

"As I prepare to leave for Washington on a trip that you made possible,
know that I will not be traveling alone," Obama told some 200 supporters
gathered in an historic, marble-walled room at the station with nine flags
behind him.


"We are here to mark the beginning of our journey to Washington," Obama
said. "This is fitting because it was here, in this city, that our
American journey began. It was here that a group of farmers and lawyers,
merchants and soldiers, gathered to declare their independence and lay
claim to a destiny that they were being denied."

Gov. Ed Rendell, introducing Obama, noted Pennsylvania was not just a
battleground state during the revolution, but also in Obama's election.

"This was the battleground," Rendell said. "When the returns came back at
8:06 we all knew, and I bet Sen. Obama knew, that he was going to be the
next president of the United States."

Rendell and the other elected officials introducing Obama noted all the
Lincoln parallels.

"They're both from Illinois; he will use the Lincoln bible; He will speak
at the Lincoln Memorial. I think he has a real sense of history," said
Arlen Specter, the Republican senator from Pennsylvania , who is here to
add a bi-partisan air to the send-off. Earlier this week it was Specter
who harshly grilled Obama's choice for attorney general, Eric Holder,
during his confirmation hearing.

"He's pretty much retracing the same route [as Lincoln]," Democratic Sen.
Bob Casey said. Casey said he hopes Obama's inaugural speech Tuesday can
help slow the economic downturn.

"Words matter -- probably more so in a time of economic crisis," Casey
said. "His words throughout the campaign inspired people to believe that
what was thought impossible is within the realm of possibility."

After the speech, Obama boarded a 1930 vintage Pullman car which is
cruising to Wilmington, Del., to pick up Vice President-elect Joe Biden
and his family. Obama will make a stop in Baltimore before arriving in
Washington, D.C. tonight.


----------------------------------------


In photos: 'Obama travels toward Washington D.C for Inauguration'
By James Wray Jan 17, 2009, 19:26 GMT
Monsters and Critics
<http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/usa/features/article_1454099.php/
In_photos_Obama_travels_toward_Washington_D.C_for_Inauguration>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/7brn3y>



Joe Biden knocks on door of Obama's inaugural train (Extra)
US News
Jan 17, 2009, 17:36 GMT
Monsters and Critics
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/usa/news/article_1454083.php/
Joe_Biden_knocks_on_door_of_Obamas_inaugural_train__Extra__


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/98xju6>



Wilmington, Delaware/Washington - There was a moment of hesitation
Saturday before vice-president-elect Joe Biden knocked on the door of the
Amtrak Pullman coach.

Biden was looking to board the historic inaugural train, which carried
president-elect Barack Obama on the historic final journey towards
Washington and his inauguration on Tuesday.

But no one answered, and he opened and stuck his head through the door on
the last car on the train, as if to say 'anyone home?' broadcast images
showed.

Biden shrugged, walked back down the train steps to the platform, and
waited.

Finally, after a moment or two, Obama and first-lady-to-be Michelle Obama
emerged through the door and joined Biden and wife Jill Biden on the
platform, with hugs all around.

'Happy birthday,' exclaimed Jill Biden as she hugged Michelle, who is
celebrating her 45th birthday.

Both women wore purple. Michelle donned a bright purple shirt and jacket,
while Jill wore a frilly purple collar underneath her jacket.



Whistle Stop Tour

<http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=
%22whistle+stop+tour%22+and+obama&btnG=Search+Images>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/9chmko>


Throngs witness Obama's whistle stop tour to DC
By JENNIFER LOVEN
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/
ALeqM5hzIGX_Vf-5R0SXp4sc-8L9b-ZkHwD95P44M80


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/7v6ofl>


At his Wilmington stop, Obama plunged into the crowd and greeted the
people. He used his talk to voice the same refrain of recent days: the
country should not get discouraged because of its dire economic straits.

At midafternoon, Obama's train did a second "slow roll" through Edgewood
in the Maryland countryside north of Baltimore. He was greeted by a
sizable crowd numbering around a thousand. The temperature dipped even
further as the day wore on as the train chugged along the mid-Atlantic
seaboard, and onlookers were bundled up to their ears and beyond. But the
crowds were boisterous, nevertheless. Even as the front of the long train
rolled by, with Obama's distinctive car yet to pass by, the people started
a hearty cheer of "O-bama, O-bama!"

A buoyant Obama earlier had waved to cheering throngs of people standing,
leaning and jumping along railroad tracks as his whistle stop train slowed
to a crawl in Claymont, Del.

Standing on the last car's flag-draped platform in front of a presidential
insignia, he waved enthusiastically as he rode by. He and his wife,
Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha got an enthusiastic send-off a
short time earlier when the train pulled out of Philadelphia's 30th St.
station.

As the train lumbered out of Philadelphia, a conductor bellowed: "Welcome
aboard the 2009 inaugural train to DC."

The route - the same that Abraham Lincoln took nearly a century and a half
ago - was 137 miles long, and Obama's arrival in the nation's capital was
scheduled after the fall of dark Saturday. A couple such "slow-moving"
visits were scheduled along the way.



Whistle Stop Tour: Google Video

<http://video.google.com/videosearch?sa=N&tab=nv&q=
%22whistle%20stop%20tour%22%20and%20obama#>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/7a4uto>


Whistle Stop Tour You Tube

<http://www.youtube.com/results?q=%22whistle%20stop%
20tour%22%20and%20obama&sa=N&tab=v1>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/9sk4fs>



Obama whistle-stop trip: Rolling into Baltimore
CNN News
<http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/17/train.dispatches/index.html>

(CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama is on a train bound for Washington,
where he'll take the oath of office on Tuesday to become the nation's 44th
president..

The 137-mile journey from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Washington, D.C.,
retraces the train route taken by his hero Abraham Lincoln as he traveled
to assume the presidency in 1861.

THE LATEST -- CANDY CROWLEY IN BALTIMORE, 3:45 p.m. ET: The Obama Express
was greeted by six small children standing in the middle of an
intersection, jumping up and down and waving as the train approached
Baltimore.

For much of this trip, Obama's whistlestop tour has been greeted by the
people with the highest hopes and greatest need for a successful Obama
administration -- including people living in the outskirts of Baltimore.

As it arrived in the city, the train carrying the president-elect has
passed some of the most economically distressed areas in the country.

<snip>


Video
<http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/17/
train.dispatches/index.html#cnnSTCVideo>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/9dez2g>




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