Barack Obama rode into the US capital on a vintage train on Saturday, starting three days of celebrations before his inauguration as the 44th US president.

But the president-elect warned Americans of the great challenges the country faces, too, because he takes office amid the deepest economic crisis in generations and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama evoked imagery of Abraham Lincoln – as he had done throughout his campaign –- when he took the shortened version of the train journey that Lincoln had taken before assuming office in 1861.

Obama waved to crowds from the back of a vintage train car and stopped twice for rallies in frigid weather on the more than 7-hour train journey from Philadelphia to Washington.

"Only a handful of times in our history has a generation been confronted with challenges so vast," Obama said as he began the trip in Philadelphia, evoking the patriots who launched the American fight for independence in the city in 1776.

In the capital, people were busy with preparations for the Jan 20 gala, when Obama and Joe Biden would be sworn in as president and vice-president.

Obama's inauguration will have a touch of late US president Robert Kennedy, too. Renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, an ethnic Chinese, who as a child prodigy played for Kennedy, will perform a new composition at the presidential inauguration.

In Washington, the Hay-Adams Hotel, adjacent to the White House, is the Obama family's temporary residence, with a banner hanging on the opposite AFL-CIO building welcoming his daughters Malia and Sasha.

Obama may still be a couple of days from assuming office, but he has already brought smile back to the capital's hoteliers. Vivian Deuschl, of the Ritz-Carlton, said both their hotels, in downtown and in Georgetown, were fully booked.

The demand for formal dress has also gone up. Brian Grozbean, of Black Tie Formals on Pennsylvania Avenue, said the demand for suit and tuxedo rentals has risen drastically.

Employees of Palace Florists on 19th Street were a cheerful sight, seen attaching US flags to flowers displayed in the store window. It has even launched its own campaign: "If your name is Barack, come in for a free rose."

(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2009)