WORLD> Photo
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WORLD> Photo
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Obama rides the rails to DC, packing American's hope
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-18 08:50 For traveler Obama, there was a celebratory air as his train pulled out of the station at Philadelphia.
"Welcome aboard the 2009 inaugural train to DC," the conductor intoned. Obama's blue rail car was tacked onto the back of a 10-car Amtrak train filled with hundreds of guests, reporters and staff for the 137-mile ride to Washington. Along the way, Obama and his wife, Michelle, appeared on the back balcony periodically to wave to shivering crowds bundled up in blankets and parkas who had gathered by the dozens, the hundreds and more along the route. One held a sign that read, "Happy Birthday Michelle," taking note of the future first lady's 45th birthday. Another, in Delaware, waved a placard that said, "We came from Massachusetts 2 C U." The well-wishers hoped not just for a glimpse of the 44th US president-in-waiting but for a cameo role in history. Joan Schiff, 47, a small business owner who campaigned for Obama, turned out for his departure from Philadelphia. "At some point, you look up and think, 'I am in a moment,'" she said. Carolyn Tyson, 55, came from Medford, N.J. to catch Obama's stop in Wilmington. She arrived a good seven hours early, at 6:30 am, to see the new president. "It's unreal, it's surreal," she said of Obama's election. Tyson, who is black, said she never thought she'd see a president of color. |
