During the cold winter months in a pocket of the capital city, a bit of magic is sprinkled about on the historic rail that once transported gold from Virginia City to the mint in Carson City, but now transports elves, hot cocoa, and silver bells for a few special weeks each year.
The Polar Express rolled into town on Nov. 15 with the help of the historic V&T Railway Commission, and with it, a certain jolly old man and his magical helpers.
Based on the popular book and movie of the same name, the Polar Express is an hour long ride leaving from the Eastgate Depot in Carson City and following the historic route to Gold Hill just below Virginia City.
During the Christmas season, there is a new stop along the way: the North Pole.
When my four-year-old niece, Harper, and I arrived to the Eastgate Depot on opening night, we found the charming railway station transformed into the entrance to a Christmas village. Twinkle lights were strung between the buildings like a canopy of stars, and Christmas trees and Christmas wreaths lined the walkway to the ticketing building. Pajama-clad children threw snowballs (made of cotton puffs, as no snow had fallen by then) at each other, screeching with joy while they waited for the train to arrive.
We received our giant golden tickets to the Polar Express and made our way into the station, which had been turned into an everything-polar-express-themed gift shop complete with pajamas, trains, mugs, stuffed bears of all colors and sizes, cookies and more.
While we waited for the train to arrive, Harper and I danced to Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and every other Christmas song under the sun that filtered through hidden speakers as if by magic.
I used to work retail, and I generally have a strict policy of devout hatred toward anything Christmas before Thanksgiving, but somehow, I found myself in the Christmas spirit despite my best efforts.
We were herded into our lines as the train pulled into the station to await boarding. The room quickly filled with the heat of the train-goers as well as the from the several heaters lining the room, and as I was clad in a leather jacket, expecting cold, Harper and I ducked into the gift shop to wait until it was officially time to cool off.
As we walked around the room and I did my best to dissuade her from asking me to purchase her every single item on the shelves with puppy-dog eyes, we found a room off to the side of the gift shop that had little white reindeer hoof prints leading around a corner.
As we came around the corner, we found a giant red-and-gold throne with a certain special someone sitting upon it, getting his photo taken with another train goer.
Harper was star-struck. Some could say struck dumb, as she quickly lost the complete ability to speak. The elves that accompanied St. Nick were kind and warm and fabulous in every way, and offered to let Harper go and enjoy an exclusive meet-and-greet with the big man himself. However, Harper also seemed to have lost the ability to walk, and instead whispered in my ear that she couldn’t see him right now, and I told the elves we’d come back later when she was a little less shy.
The elves gave her a Santa sticker, which was probably the best part of the entire night for a four-year-old.
When we got back to the boarding room, we found the conductor with a lantern clutched in his hand narrating the beginning of the story upon a black platform in the corner, to catch those not-in-the-know on what the Polar Express was and where we would be going.
A little boy in a blue bathroom approached the conductor and received his golden ticket before disappearing out of sight. The conductor then turned to the crowd and asked if we were ready to head out to the North Pole. A resounding “yes!” echoed from both adult and child alike, and soon we were shuffling out to load onto the train cars that were decked in Christmas lights, adding a bit of warmth to the chilly air.
We were greeted by our car’s unique cast who showed us to our seats. The car itself was dripping with Christmas: the luggage racks were filled to the brim with stuffed animals and vintage baggage, twinkle lights hanging like ropes from the metal racks alongside gingerbread people and snowflakes.
Harper, naturally, was in awe.
The train got rolling fairly quickly, and soon, the singing began. A teenage girl in a red vest with a wireless microphone came and knelt down to speak to Harper, asking her about what she’d say to Santa when she met him at the end of the ride, whether or not this was her first time on a train.
Harper, who has been on numerous train rides at the Nevada Railroad Museum throughout her four years, for whatever reason said she had never been on a train before, which our hostess seemed excited about.
Then, the music came on and our hostess jumped into action, signing along with the other cast members about boarding the Polar Express, and a little silver ticket puncher appeared out of nowhere. She punched three holes in our tickets in time with the music before whisking away, and Harper held hers to her chest with glee.
We watched the inky-blue darkened desert roll slowly by from the windows after the first song ended, and Harper’s entire face was pressed against the glass to the point I was concerned her nose would become flattened forever and I’d have to explain to her parents why. But thankfully, the next act involved running, coordinated dancing and balancing a tower of (presumably empty) hot cocoa cups on silver trays, which pulled her attention momentarily from the window.
Real hot cocoa was then dispersed to the riders by cast members along with a giant green-frosted cookie. Harper’s personal favorite cast member was the Chef, who spoke in a high pitched voice and sprinted and leapt up and down the aisle, talking so fast that no one but the kids, who have a natural ear for these things, could understand.
Soon after, a strange and bizarre monologue was performed by a hobo character played by a teenager with a scruffy beard drawn on his face speaking in an over-the-top Brooklyn accent reminiscent of Prison Mike from the Office. This was my personal favorite part of the evening, and I’m sure if I had studied up on Polar Express beforehand, it would have made sense. But, I did not, and so I was left to draw my own conclusions on the story at hand.
I was the first to see the lights of the North Pole coming into view, and I shouted at Harper to look up ahead. As we pulled closer, we found approximately two dozen elves waiting to greet us, waving and jumping up and down in excitement, mirroring the energy of the children inside the train who waved and jumped back. Some held hands and skipped alongside the train, and Harper’s face once again became flattened against the glass.
The train came to a stop, and our cast members pulled out huge illustrated copies of the Polar Express to show to the riders while the conductor narrated the story through the hidden speakers on the train car. But our eyes were only for the twinkling lights that constructed the buildings of the North Pole. One such building was the workshop, with presents piled as high as the neon-lit ceiling, which seemed to be the most celebrated structure from the children on board.
The train slowly started rolling backwards, and when we came back to the group of elves, someone new was with them: Mr. Santa Claus himself, waving and smiling.
Our narrator came over the speakers and asked if we wanted Santa to come on board. In response, everyone (including the adults, otherwise we’d have to keep answering until the correct amount of energetic yelling was exerted) started chanting “Santa! Santa!” until the big man appeared. Santa stopped by each seat and spoke with each and every child, depositing a silver Polar Express Bell to each one of the riders, to keep the Christmas Spirit with us at all times.
Harper, once again, couldn’t speak to Santa as she was too starstruck, but we did get a photo taken with him.
On the way back to the station, a spontaneous round of Christmas Carols sprung up from the adults on board, which surprised me. It’s nearly impossible to get most adults and parents to sing Christmas songs without being forced, especially after spending an hour on a train with no bathroom alongside dozens of sugar-high children shaking jingle bells with no sense of rhythm. But, somehow, we’d all been infected with the Christmas Spirit.
Some of the pajama-clad children jumped into the aisles and danced along to the music with the cast members in a slow moving dance contest with no winners or losers.
When we pulled back into the station, the train car was filled with nothing but smiles and the sound of silver bells. As soon as we got Harper back into the car, she was out like a light, still clutching her bell to her chest in one hand and her golden ticket in the other.
You can learn more about the Polar Express in Carson City by clicking here.
