The Low-Tech Times

I did not see the train in person, but the crowds turned out to see the Amtrak special carrying President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden to their inauguration in Washington, D.C.

The train departed Philadelphia, PA with Obama and stopped in Wilmington, DE to pick up Biden.  In Wilmington, Obama gave a speech filled with railroad imagery.  The Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire has the transcript:

[Biden] came here — to this station — and boarded the train to our nation’s capital. And then, night after night, month after month, year after year, he rode that train back home in the evening to raise his boys and a beautiful family alongside his wife Jill.

He would be the first to tell you that he didn’t do it alone — he had the people of this city and this state with him every step of the way. Now, Delaware, I’m asking Joe Biden to take one more ride to Washington.

Together, we know that there is work to be done. Together, we know that America faces its own crossroads — a nation at war, an economy in turmoil, an American Dream that feels like its slipping way. Together, we know that the American people are facing adversity, and that the time has come to pick ourselves up once again.

We have heard your stories on the campaign trail. We’ve been touched by your dreams. And we will fight for you every single day that we’re in Washington, because Joe and I are both committed to leading a government that is accountable — not just to the wealthy or the well-connected, but to you. To the conductors who make our trains run, and to the workers who lay down the rails. To the parents who worry about how they’re going to pay next month’s bills on the commute to work, and to the children who hear the whistle of the train and dream of a better life.

President Lincoln also arrived by train in Washington.  While much of Lincoln’s train ride from Illinois was a publicized event, the last leg from Baltimore in Washington was conducted in secrecy out of security concerns.  Obama’s train was accompanied by helicopter escort. I also noticed that although Obama’s train traveled on Amtrak’s electrified Northeast Corridor, the train was led by a pair of Amtrak diesel locomotives. Perhaps Amtrak used diesels instead of electric locomotives for security concerns in case of catenary power problems.

See Also:

Obama Continues the Tradition of Utilizing Trains In Presidential Politics

Democratic VP Nominee is a Passenger Rail Advocate