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Vice President-Elect Joe Biden is a well-known train geek, so we have to assume he was involved in the decision for him and President-Elect Barack Obama to arrive in Washington on Jan. 17 via Amtrak. Sure, the Lincoln-loving Obama says he's replicating his presidential hero's journey to Washington by starting out in Philadelphia and stopping in Baltimore on his way, but Biden made the fact that he rides the train between D.C. and Wilmington almost every day one of his talking points during the campaign, so the symbolism works for both of them rather nicely.
Biden can surely offer Obama some advice about what to expect on the train ride from Philly to D.C., but as there are many veterans of that trip among the DCist staff and commentariat, we thought we'd throw the floodgates open. What should Obama know about his upcoming train ride? Here's a few of our ideas; add yours in the comments.
- Don't worry if you can't understand anything the conductor says over the PA system when your train stops for no reason. Amtrak delays aren't meant to be understood, they're meant to be endured while scratching your head and wondering, why did I pay all this extra money again?
- Be careful if you ask someone to move to another seat so you and Michelle can sit together. Folks who regularly ride the Northeast Regional can be a little possessive of having double seats to themselves.
- The snack car line can sometimes take forever, but some of the snacks are surprisingly good, so don't skip it. Pass on the hot dog, but do get the hot breakfast sandwich, and later on remember that the box of chocolate chip cookies is a really good deal.
- When you finally do arrive, make sure not to take any photos in Union Station! You may be the President-Elect, but that doesn't mean Jones Lang LaSalle’s security guards will treat you with respect or dignity.
Photo by erin_carly
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Stay out of the bathroom at Union Station!
The trains on that line are always late. Plan accordingly.
Upon reaching Baltimore, Obama will then put on a dress while changing train platforms at Penn Station, in homage to Lincoln's trip through Charm City on the eve of the Civil War.
oh how we love to make silly dumb lists
The hot dogs are the best thing on the menu!
Seems like this will present an interesting security issue... Those tracks are hardly secure. And with a known number of departure times?
Seems unnecessary.
Tip #1: First class is $80 more for some bad food, and you will have to listen to a pretentious low-end executive loudly blather on his cell phone for the entire trip. Take the quiet car and eat first.
Tip #2: Metroliner seats are far superior to Acela seats.
I'll be a dork and repeat my comment on GGW: will they call this Amtrak One?
With 5 trillion people coming to see him on the 20th, and many by train, won’t this just screw things up even worse?
if he takes a photo of union station, then he is definitely linked to william ayers! terrorist!
FWIW my wife spent at least an hour taking pictures inside Union Station on Saturday and didn't get hassled once, perhaps they revised that inane policy.
Wow! Hundreds of Washingtonians pulling a train
at Union Station and DCist is there. Woo Woo!
The "quiet car" is a misnomer. So don't be surprised when that AU/GW student next to you, sporting her "freshman 40" whips out the "celly" and starts yelling at the top of her lungs "YER NEVER GONNA GUESS WHERE I AM! AND GUESS WHO'S SITTING NEXT TO ME! OBAMA! OH-BAH-MAH! Y'KNOW....THAT GUY WHO'S GONNA LIVE IN THE WHITE HOUSE?"
Make sure to cut in line when waiting to board at Philly, you're sure to draw the love and compassion of everyone who queued up properly...
You forgot a key piece of advice: Ummm... don't go to Philly.
Is that your black president? Such small words, but they can mean alot..
I'll be a dork and repeat my comment on GGW: will they call this Amtrak One?
Probably. The president's limo is informally known as Cadillac One. Really I think they're allowed to slap "One" onto anything.
tip: those who stand in line way early will ultimately board the train last and cranky from waiting. just find yourself a comfy seat, eat your lunch/dinner, and join the mob once boarding is called.
also, board the first car (the last car on the train). i don't know why people make a mad dash for the front of the train and squish for seats. it won't get you to your destination faster.
I hope that kid from Deliverance is sitting outside the caboose.
jamie's tip is the best tip - all trains headed to DC from philly are always late.
but that just means you have enough time to check out denise's pink caribbean food truck across the street.
RJ: With 5 trillion people coming to see him on the 20th, and many by train, won’t this just screw things up even worse?
Then pick another mode of transportation you'd prefer to be halted. I think I'm beginning to see the sheer genius in this idea.
I hope you all realize he's not actually going to ride Amtrak...he's going to ride a private car possibly attached to the end of an Amtrak train. But there's tricked out old Pullman cars that are gorgeous and (more importantly) private, and there's a guy in Philadelphia who has a bullet-proof one that foreign dignitaries use, so I'd imagine he'll be on that or something like it.
And this allows him to stop at all those smaller stops (and Philly and Baltimore) and give the people what they want here, so less of them may crush DC on the 20th.
In response to sumergocognito
>...will they call this Amtrak One?
See the Rail Force One:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=108264
What? Hopping boxcars with a hobo bindle not good enough for America's First Marxist President?
"Man of the People" indeed!
He'd go through in disguise and in hiding in the middle of the night if he were going to transit through Baltimore like Lincoln.
good on both of them. the whistle-stop tour would be a nice thing to revive 'round these parts!
Hopefully the PA system at Union Station will be working:
Me: What did he say?
You: He said the President-Elect is near.
My advice: If Michelle will be going to the cafe car to sit and eat, make sure there are a few Secret Service guys to protect her from the loud-mouthed drunks that will hit on her.
I actually saw one idiot hitting on the wives of Washington Capitals players on their way back from a game in the City of Brotherly Love. After the drunk loudly delivered the punch line to an off color joke, the uncle of one of the hockey wives got him to return to his seat in another car.
Mr. President-elect, Don't worry about going to the cafe car. Bring your own booze (it's allowed!), set yourself up with a couple of DVD episodes of Lost on the laptop and go to town.
Agreed. the hot dog is the best item on the menu.
I remember the good old days when you could take photos anywhere and no one would care...
I do wonder, though, what Obama's arrival by train will do to Amtrak schedules for the rest of the day. There are probably tons of people up and down the east coast who are hoping to take the train into DC (and Amtrak is late enough on a good day).
watch out for those sliding doors on the bathrooms, make sure you get one on which the latch actually...latches.
This Is a great boost for Amtrak PR, Amtrak will finally get the funding they deserve.. and sorry to burst everyone's bubble but details on the inside is yes he's riding Amtrak from Chicago to Washington DC but no its not one of Amtraks routed trains. The president and vice pres will HAVE THERE OWN TRAIN. setup will be similar to the Good Morning America train. ( for those who did not know GMA did a nation wide tour and Amtrak gave them there own train). So sorry for those who thought they would ride the rails with the president. To high of a security risk. You dont see regular citizens riding air force one, so dont plan on them riding Amtrak 1.
Hers 2 pics of GMA's Amtrak train. with satellite car and all.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=255755&nseq=0
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=251270&nseq=7