Texas
State Railroad's Polar Express
Sunday,
December 23, 2007, Palestine, Texas.
They had a full house for the 5:10 p.m. run and ran two
more Polar Express trains later that night. As you will see,
there were hundreds of people, mainly children with their families. I
was in coach 41 on the 7-car train. I've included some sound mpeg
movie clips of onboard activities and of the train arriving at the
station. Steam locomotive No. 300 was used. The trip was fantastic and
the fun and good times were rampant. The hosts of each car wore the
white chef outfits that were seen in the Polar Express movie and served
hot chocolate and gave out snacks to all on board. One of the carhosts
in my car was Cliff Rich.
The train went about eight miles out of Palestine to a
'North Pole' scene in the midde of the woods where Santa got on and the
went through the various coaches, his elves giving all the children a
small magical Christmas bell. All the kids were elated and happy and
those bells were ringing loud and clear! All the while, some of the
music from the movie soundtrack was being played throughout the train.
Then Christmas carols were played and everyone sung along. Even though
you can hear the singing and bells in some of the movies I took, you
had to be there to truly experience the atmosphere. Once in a while the
steam whistle would blow in the darkness.
According to one of the hosts, ridership on all the Polar
Express trains already run had already passed Thomas the Tank Engine
ridership last summer. She said that as of December 23, 18,000 had
ridden. Due to the high demand, they were planning to run more the
following week. (All photos and movies by Ken
Ziegenbein)
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These images are clickable to
enlarge (
).
If you have broadband and wish to view all the photos in a larger
format, click on:
http://www.trainweather.com/tsr-polarexpress-bb.html
Theses were taken after the trip was over and they were ready to leave
on the second trip of the evening, December 23. The one I rode at 5:10
p.m. started out in daylight, and you'll see those photos later on the
page. LEFT-The train was about to leave the Palestine station at
7:36 p.m. after boarding.
LEFT-From a little farther away. I used a flash with 3200 ISO to get
these bright scenes. You'll notice some grain if you enlarge. RIGHT-The Moon was full and you can see steam
rising from No. 300 on the other side of the tower.
These images are clickable to
enlarge ().
If you have broadband and wish to view all the photos in a larger
format, click on:
http://www.trainweather.com/tsr-polarexpress-bb.html
LEFT-Ready to depart on the second run of the night. RIGHT-Earlier in
the day at 3:49 p.m. when I arrived for the 5:10 p.m. departure. I
don't like to be late. No. 300 looked great leading the 7-car train.
RIGHT-Silhouette of engine 300 with a blue sky and steam.
LEFT-By 4:15 p.m., the parking lot was already almost full. RIGHT-At
4:36 p.m., there were lines of passengers waiting to board.
LEFT-They backed the train around the curve west of the station so it
could arrive about 5 p.m. to board passengers. RIGHT-More of the crowd of families.
To see a high-resolution sound MPEG movie of the train arriving, click
the link below. WARNING-File size is a large 21 MB so broadband is a
must.
http://www.thundertrain.org/122307PolExpressArriving-455pm-21mb-1.mpg
Starting to board about 5 p.m.
Inside car No. 41. All got a cup of hot chocolate.
To view a sound MPEG movie of the hot chocolate being served, click the
link below (8 MB):
http://www.thundertrain.org/122307PolExpressHotChoc-8mb-2.mpg
Santa gets on at the 'North Pole' stop, about 8 miles east of
Palestine. He and his elves gave all the kids small bells to ring. You
will hear these very plainly on some of the movies.
To view a sound MPEG movie of Santa and the sounds of many bells, click
this link (6 MB):
http://www.thundertrain.org/122307PolExpressSantaFells-6mb-3.mpg
North Pole scene where the train stopped and the engine was wyed to
hook onto the other end for its return to Palestine. Santa got on and
off here.
To view a sound MPEG movie taken of this scene from inside the coach,
click here (9 MB):
http://www.thundertrain.org/122307PolExpressNPoleScene-9mb-4.mpg
After we started our return trip, tickets were punched.
To view a sound MPEG movie of the singing of Rudolph the Red Nosed
Reindeer (car host Cliff Rich is in this scene), click the link below
(20 MB- large):
http://www.thundertrain.org/122307PolExpressRudolph-20mb-5.mpg
More sound MPEG movies (click the links below):
Singing
Jingle Bells with the steam whistle blowing in the background (10
MB)
Silent
Night (10 MB)
Up
On The Housetop (15 MB)
'Thanks
for Riding' announcement (7 MB)
LEFT-Back at Palestine ready to deboard at 6:15 p.m. RIGHT-Another
carload getting out. You were not allowed to walk between cars.
A full moon over the Texas State Railroad after the festive ride.
