Barack Obama and his family will make their way into Washington for his inaugural next month by train, with a whistle-stop procession that will begin with an event in Philadelphia.

The train tour, on Saturday, Jan. 17, will stop in Wilmington to pick up Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his family and proceed to Baltimore for another event before arriving in Washington.

The presidential party will be traveling on a special charter train.

Inaugural planners say the railway ride will allow people who aren’t going to Washington for the inaugural to participate in it just the same.

“As part of the most open and accessible inauguration in history, we hope to include as many Americans as possible who wish to participate, but can’t be in Washington,” Emmett S. Beliveau, executive director of the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee, said in a statement. “These events will allow us to do that while honoring the rich history and tradition of previous inaugural journeys.”

Bill Clinton similarly arrived in Washington for his first inauguration, in 1993, in a procession from Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson.

The tradition is as old as the country itself. George Washington traveled to his inaugural in New York City, then the capital, from his home in Mount Vernon, and celebrations erupted along the route. A ceremonial barge took him across the Hudson into Manhattan. read more