Hello friends! This week we will be talking about the North Pole Express, the Essex Steam Train & Riverboat’s signature Christmas event. As usual, when discussing the organizations I am involved with, the views expressed in this post are my own.
While I can easily fill a whole book with my experiences working this particular event over the years, I want to talk specifically about why I believe this show stands out from our competitors’ holiday offerings. What makes the North Pole Express so unique among holiday trains? Let’s climb aboard and find out.
Busiest Christmas Operation in the Country
One aspect of the North Pole Express that makes it stand out is the sheer number of departures per evening. When I rode the Christmas train in Essex back in 1995, the company was only running one train at a time. By the time I joined the company in 2016, the operation had expanded to two trains running at once. In 2018, we added a third train, and in 2024 we added a fourth train!
What amazes me about that is how carefully timed the operation is. During the holiday season, we operate as a multi-train railroad, with defined blocks and limits, more akin to a commuter railroad than a heritage one. On a weekend day during the holiday season, we have a train departing Essex Station every thirty minutes, from 2pm to 8pm, totalling 13 departures. And that’s just on the weekends!
A lot of careful planning and preparation went into turning the North Pole Express into a four-train operation, and I am amazed at how well we have pulled it off. Sure, other companies may run longer trains with more guests on board, but as far as I am aware, we lead with the sheer number of departures.
Huge Amount of Personnel and Riders
Like many holiday productions, the North Pole Express takes a lot of personnel to make the magic happen. What continues to blow my mind is the huge number of people that it takes to pull off each night. It is staggering when you think about it.
It’s been estimated that one evening of the North Pole Express takes about 125 people each night to pull off. That’s across all departments, from train crews, to cast members, to food service, to facilities, to office workers… it’s a huge number. Even with an enormous cast and crew, the show still runs smoothly. That’s a testament to the dedication of our cast and crew to bring the magic.
With all these trains running to and from the North Pole, and the show’s reputation as a top-notch experience, it’s no surprise that people come from all around to ride the North Pole Express. The event sells out each year, usually overnight. It’s no surprise that we sold out all 85,000 tickets to the North Pole for the 2024 season!
When I started in 2016, that number was 40,000 tickets. Our highest year ever was 2019, when we were running the Santa Special trains (our daytime holiday trains). That year we sold over 90,000 tickets for the entire holiday season! I could not have imagined this level of growth back when I started with the railroad.
A Sense of Close Community
Working at the railroad, I see the same people regularly. It’s natural, then, that I have grown close to a number of my coworkers, such as my best buddy Peter, one of my fellow train crew members. I consider many of my railroad coworkers as friends, both close and distant.
What stands out to me is the sense of community that is created amongst the cast and crew during the North Pole Express, and leading up to it. That sense of community is on full display both behind the scenes and on stage. For example, during the train ride, it’s our job as train crew to watch the backs of the elves, servers, and cast members. The cast members know that if a situation gets out of hand, they can call on us to help resolve it.
That sense of community extends beyond the event itself. I know plenty of examples of cast members going to see each other in different productions throughout the rest of the year, myself included. As I wrote about in this post, I went to see a friend from the show perform in a Halloween production. That was truly delightful!
Running Multiple Steam Locomotives
As I have written before on this blog, maintaining and operating a steam locomotive is a significant investment of time, money, and resources. During the regular season we operate just one steam locomotive at a time. While impressive and expensive as that may be, it’s small compared to what we operate during the holiday season…
At Christmastime, we are running all three of our steam locomotives every operating night for the whole run of the North Pole Express. 97, 40, and 3025 all under steam, as it has been since 2018 when 97 was restored to working condition. Running all three steamers makes for some spectacular photos!
It is a carefully choreographed operation to run all three steam locomotives, ensuring that each engine is prepped, fueled, and ready to run well before the first departure. The operation requires each member of the crew to be on top of their game, minimizing delays, which could easily cascade through the whole evening.
Very few railroads in the world operate three standard gauge steam locomotives at once. We are proud to ensure that the traditions of steam railroading carry on into the present.
Conclusion
In the interest of length, I am going to end my discussion of the North Pole Express for now, but rest assured, there will be plenty more to talk about as the holiday season progresses.
In future posts I will share a more general overview of the onboard experience, share stories of cute occurences that I witnessed, and overall spread holiday joy with my writing.
Got a Christmas story to share? Put it in the comments. I love a good story.
As always, thanks for reading!