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All Aboard!
Utah's Polar Express Adventure
By Kendeyl Johansen
and handed the books out to passengers. The hostess read to us, her voice building with excitement. Kids looked from the book's pictures to the real-life train – amazed at how they were living the story.
As the train rushed through a channel between snowy mountains, the story ended, and the books were gathered. Suddenly an elf cried, "We're getting close!" We saw a lighted village, a huge Christmas tree and then Santa waving at us. Pandemonium rocked the train.
The Polar Express stopped to let Santa on board. Waiting for Santa to visit our coach, we sung Christmas carols. Kids were encouraged to sing around the mike or introduce themselves and tell everyone what they wanted for Christmas. We learned that passengers in our coach were from as far away as Olympia, Wash., and Maryland.
Mrs. Claus suddenly walked into our coach armed with recipes for the cookies we'd enjoyed. She posed for pictures and hugged the wide-eyed kids. And then Santa entered our train car. The kids surged forward. Santa took extra time with each child, chatting easily and beaming for dozens of pictures. As a parting gift, Santa handed each child a silver bell from his sleigh, just like in The Polar Express. When Santa exited our coach Max said, "This is ex-act-ly what I wished for in this train!"
Soon afterwards, the train pulled into the station. Max sighed with happiness as he stepped down from the train. "Mom, that was my favorite!" he raved.
"We went to a train convention in North Dakota, where another railroad had created a successful train based on The Polar Express," says McConnell, marketing director and train conductor for Heber Valley Historic Railroad. "There were several rough and tough railroad men that were misty-eyed after hearing stories about kids riding the Christmas train."