Obama Express Going To Washington

President-elect Barack Obama landed in Philadelphia on Friday.He stayed at the Sheraton hotel overnight and this morning, he's preparing to ride the “Inauguration Express.”

Obama will board a train to Washington where he will be inaugurated on Tuesday as 44th President of the United States.

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.

Obama was smiling and confident throughout the day and across the miles, reaching at each stop for history's lessons. In Philadelphia, he noted the risks taken by the men who declared America independent from Britain. In Wilmington, he applauded the state that first ratified the Constitution. And in Baltimore, he hailed the troops at Fort McHenry who beat back the British navy and inspired the poem that became "The Star-Spangled Banner."

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.

For traveler Obama, there was a celebratory air as his train pulled out of the station at Philadelphia.

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.

Obama's 135-mile tour from Philadelphia to Washington is meant to mirror President Abraham Lincoln's 1861 journey by train for his inauguration.

The Amtrak train starts at 30th street station this morning.

It will pass through the heart of Chester, Delaware County.

The train will then stop in Wilmington to pick up Vice-President elect Joe Biden and his family before going to Washington.