One of my favorite Christmas movies is The Polar Express, which centers on a boy, an enchanted train, and a journey he takes with other children to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. Last Christmas, The Polar Express came to my own home in the form of a model train complete with figures of the Tom-Hanks conductor and the boy who no longer believes in Christmas. This gift — Thanks Becky — reconnected me with the world of model railroads, which so fascinated me as a child. Along with the locomotive and the passenger cars, I received enough track to make an oblong-shaped layout that had a large diameter of about 5 1/2 feet. There was even a special fluid that when poured into the engine’s smokestack would make smoke come out. But that was only the beginning.

In the months that followed, a number of Polar Express accessories came to me either as gifts or from my own shopping. These included a mountain tunnel, a sand tower, a station platform, and additional figures. I added more track, too, doubling the size of the layout, and inserting a shorter, bending track that linked one side of the oblong path to the other. And as the train set grew, so did my plans for it. I eventually decided to go all out and set up a Christmas-themed display with a layer of “snow” and, of course, a Christmas tree.

As of today, all the necessary supplies are on hand, spread out across the basement ping-pong table, ready to be put in place. One of the more eye-catching accessories will be a covered bridge with snow across its roof, an early Christmas gift from stepson Andy and his  fiancé, Lindsay. Some trial and error will probably be needed before the “perfect” layout is achieved; the lumps in the snow could be particularly challenging. But that will be part of the fun, letting my imagination express itself on the rails and environs of the Polar Express.

I have no specific deadline for completing the Christmas Polar Express set-up, but once it is up and running, I will be inviting every little kid I know to come see it. And if on Christmas day, I receive some additional Polar Express figures or accessories, it will be easy enough to add them to what is already there. By the time the holiday season is over, I may be more popular that Santa Claus himself. My next blog will focus on the completed Polar Express display and the people — young and old — who came to admire it.