Christmas-themed train rides put passengers in the spirit

LEBANON, Ohio – A piercing whistle cuts through the chilly air, and strings of Christmas lights burst into color. Impatient, wriggling children suddenly become still, gazing wide-eyed as parents and grandparents direct their attention to the suddenly moving landscape outside the windows.

Santa’s North Pole Express is on its way.

Scenes similar to this one in southwest Ohio are being repeated across the country as tourism railways convert their steam- or diesel-powered trains to Christmas-themed transportation for a growing number of passengers.

Excursions in California, North Carolina and elsewhere wrap up the holiday spirit with cookies and hot chocolate, “North Pole” stops, visits from Santa and, in some cases, pajama-clad children a la “The Polar Express.”

“It’s just a great way to get into the Christmas spirit, and you get to ride a train too, maybe for the first time,” said Connie Davis, 58, of Foster, Ky.

Davis took the season’s inaugural run of Santa’s North Pole Express with about 20 family members at the request of her father, who worked on a railroad.

“My father turns 80 this year, and he wanted his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to have a chance to ride on a train for Christmas,” she said.

Davis enthusiastically led her train car in rousing choruses of “Jingle Bells” and “Here Comes Santa Claus.” Shortly after the Cincinnati Railway Co. train pulled out of the depot, Santa and Mrs. Claus begin walking through the train cars.

“Santa, Santa …” small voices chanted as the couple, dressed in their traditional red finery, handed out strings of small jingle bells and wished everyone a Merry Christmas, slowed a bit by exuberant hugs from children clustered around them.

After about a 30-minute ride, the train stopped at a replica of the North Pole. Hot chocolate was served, carolers sang and parents snapped photos before the train headed back to this town about 30 miles north of Cincinnati.

The bells that Santa gives out are an important part of the scenario as Christmas trains try to capture some of the magic of Chris Van Allsburg’s popular tale, “The Polar Express.”

In the book about a boy awakened by a steam train that takes youngsters to the North Pole, Santa Claus gives the boy a bell from his sleigh as the first gift of Christmas. The story’s popularity was underscored this year by a new animated film featuring Tom Hanks.

“We saw the film, and I think that made this trip more intriguing,” said Wende Morgan-Elliott, 36, of Fairborn, who made her first trip on the Lebanon train with her husband, Bill, their three children, both sets of grandparents and her sister.

On Fillmore & Western Railway Co.’s North Pole Express, children are encouraged to wear their pajamas as part of the fantasy. The California company’s Santa Claus Christmas Tree Train takes passengers to pick out and cut their holiday trees and then hauls the trees back for them.

Breathtaking scenery highlights Christmas-themed trains operated by northeast Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in North Carolina and the Grand Canyon Railway in Arizona. The trains journey through mountains, forests and valleys where falling snow adds a touch of holiday wonder.

Monica Brown, of Bryson City, N.C., took her 11-year-old son Tyler and 5-year-old daughter Kathryn on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad’s Polar Express this season. On the 11/2-hour nighttime round trip out of Bryson City, N.C., passengers sipped hot chocolate and nibbled on cookies as they listened to and read along with “The Polar Express.”

Santa awaited in his sleigh at Whittier, N.C., a town magically transformed into the “North Pole” with white lights strung on homes and churches.

“People are always looking for something that they can do together with their children to enrich their lives,” Brown said. “Instead of sitting and watching Christmas videos for the hundredth time, they can enjoy a magical journey on a real train. These are the memories that my children will have for their whole lives. I want them to be special.”

Devonna Husband, a volunteer Big Sister in Flagstaff, Ariz., and her 10-year-old “little sister” took a trip on the Grand Canyon Railway’s Polar Express last year.

“She was a little cynical about the idea at first, but she was straining to see out the windows the closer we got to the North Pole,” said Husband, 26. “And she jingled her Christmas bell from Santa all the way home.”

The excitement starts to build on the platform as the old-fashioned steam locomotive pulls into the Williams, Ariz., depot. When the train reaches its destination – a snow-covered pine forest where a multitude of lights create the illusion of the North Pole – squeals of delight can be heard as Santa leaves his sleigh to climb onboard.

This year’s trips on the Grand Canyon Railway’s Polar Express sold out before the first train pulled out of the station, said railway spokesman Charlie Zuercher. He said more than 42,000 people were ticketed to travel on the express this year, compared with 23,000 last year.

The Cuyahoga Valley railroad has sold out for so many years that it has resorted to a mail-in lottery to distribute its popular Polar Express tickets.

“Special-event trains are becoming more and more the trend for attracting new and repeat riders,” said Allen Harper, chairman and chief executive of American Heritage Railways, which owns the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.

He said tourist railways are increasingly building trips around holidays such as Christmas, Halloween and Easter, and are gearing trips around popular children’s books like “Thomas the Tank Engine.”

Kevin Keefe, associate publisher of Trains Magazine, said that with such a small industry there are not many statistics to show how the railways are faring.

“I do think it is significant that they are drawing so many passengers in the winter season to what has normally been a summertime attraction,” he said. “They are obviously getting smarter about marketing.”