With President Obama newly re-elected to the White House the Atlantic, a visitor from North America was given a presidential-style welcome at the National Railway Museum in York.

A look-a-like of American wartime general and 34th President Dwight D Eisenhower welcomed his namesake locomotive to the home of the railways after a historic transatlantic trek including a 2,527-mile Atlantic odyssey.

Dwight D Eisenhower will be on display to the public in the museum workshop later this month, where it will be receiving a cosmetic restoration by experts from Lancashire-based Heritage Painting.

Mallard’s sister locomotive is getting a fresh new coat of BR green paint in preparation for 2013’s anniversary celebrations of 75 years since the record breaker captured the world speed crown.

The centrepiece of the celebrations will be a family reunion in July which will fulfil the dreams of rail fans across the world. All six of the surviving A4 locomotives in the world will be gathered together at the museum.

Sister locomotive Dominion of Canada is currently getting a Mallard-style makeover into characteristic garter blue at the National Railway Museum at Shildon. Darlington-based M-Machine will be making the transformation from green to iconic blue happen in the Museum workshop.

The A4 locomotive is not the only collection item in the Museum connected to Dwight D Eisenhower. A chair which the wartime leader sat on is on display to visitors in the warehouse.