The Polar Express: All Aboard for the North Pole!

My goodness... clearly, the end of the Christmas Season hasn't slowed down The Polar Express one bit! In fact, it seems like we're picking up speed! The fact we've managed to get over 2,000 supporters this quickly absolutely blows me away, and I can't thank each and every one of you for your support and generosity. As the new year dawns, I hope we can continue to gain momentum, and hopefully, get this project all the way to 10k! As another token of my thanks, I have a couple new renders for you below.

Once again folks, your support is appreciated more than you will ever know. I look forward to continuing this journey with you, and let's keep steaming to 10k!

Welp, it’s finally that time of year! It’s Christmas Eve! And to celebrate, Here’s a Polar Express-themed Christmas Card with the one, and only Santa Claus! Folks, I really want to thank each and every single one of you for the absolutely incredible progress this project has made in a little over a month's time. We passed the 1k milestone in just 16 days, and are well on our way to 5k and beyond with steady progress each and every day. I hope we continue to make good progress on this project towards the ultimate goal of 10k.

As we close out 2022, and ring in the new year in just a few short days, I want to wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

May the bell still ring for you, as it does for all, who truly, believe.

"Hey! Hey you! Yeah you? You wanna know some cool facts? Well, do ya? I know everything there is to know on The Polar Express!"

"Okay, Okay. I know I said this was a Baldwin 2-8-4 Class Berkshire-type steam locomotive, but as so many people have pointed out to me, that is incorrect. Look, we all make mistakes, don't we? Well, enough about this, I corrected my research, and I now know that this locomotive is a Lima N-1 Class 2-8-4 Berkshire, The Pere Marquette 1225 to be precise. It was built in 1941 by the Lima Locomotive Works of Lima, Ohio, and is preserved and operated by the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso, Michigan! The number even alludes to Christmas Day? Get it? 12/25? See? I told you I know everything!"

*Note: He really doesn't. You can learn more about the real 1225, and the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso, Michigan visit their website here: https://michigansteamtrain.com/

*Screenshots taken directly from the movie*

"Did you know, Robert Zemeckis, the guy who directed The Polar Express, also directed the Back to The Future Trilogy? Well, did ya? Of course you did. Everybody knows that. But I bet you don't know all the cool references to in The Polar Express, now did ya? The one everyone knows is when the Hero Boy Quotes Doc Brown when he blows the whistle: 'I wanted to do that my whole life!' However, at the beginning of the film, if you look at this newspaper clipping in The Polar Express, you'll see that the department store Santas have on their protest signs: 'Vote yes to Lone Pine Mall construction.' That's the name of the mall in Hill Valley in BTTF's prime timeline! Bet you didn't know that!"

"However, the coolest reference is this one. In the cab of The Polar Express, where the train crew are trying to grab the cotter pin, you can see a working flux capacitor! I think I know why it stayed 11:55 on The Polar Express the entire time we were on it."

"That's only a handful of facts I know about this train, and I would love to share more with you later! But for now, I've got to scatter. Well, see ya!"

"Hello there! I'm the Conductor of the Polar Express! We've been getting busy preparing for the big run on Christmas Eve, but I wanted to take a little bit of time out of my day to share some really cool Holiday-Themed LEGO Ideas projects that, I think, would be well worth your support!"

"Well, doesn't this feel like a nice, warm little community! User LEGOJOELEGO really did a great job capturing the whimsical nature of a small winter village. In fact, this project reminds me a lot of the old Rankin Bass Holiday Specials, speaking of which,"

"Who doesn't love the Rankin Bass holiday specials? They're as essential to the holiday season as

A Christmas Tree, Santa, and of course! Hot Chocolate! Hehehe... Santa Claus is Coming To Town is often overlooked by the general public, compared to the likes of Rudolph and Frosty, but it's easily one of my favorites, so seeing this film get some love in LEGO form is always nice to see! The choice to go with a larger scale here is something I really love, with user Corg86 really nailing the feel of the feel of the old Rankin Bass stop motion puppets and props."

"Ah yes. The Santa Clause! Another favorite of mine! This project takes such a unique, fun approach to such a beloved Holiday movie! The ability to interchange scenes within a snowglobe really makes this project something to write home about. Plus, I love the details on the 3 minifigures in this set. Scott Calvin/Santa Claus is easily my favorite here! Ashnflash really pulled out all the stops with this one!"

"This project right here is the textbook definition of whimsical. Every little detail on this project is stunning, from the little chestnut stand dressed up like a locomotive, the working carousel, to the advent wreath. It all comes together to form a project that is so wonderfully homey and, dare I say it... magical."

"That wraps up our tour of these wonderful holiday projects. If you haven't already, please check them out and give them your support. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a cup of Hot Chocolate with my name on it waiting for me. See y'all again real soon friends!"

Ladies and Gentlemen, In just a little over 2 weeks, we've managed to gain 1,000 supporters! Seeing this project go this far in such a short period of time has been a blessing, and I thank you all for it! To celebrate, I've got a selection of cut content (which could potentially return in the future) to show you all! First up are 4 scrapped minifigures which were cut from earlier versions of the project, but have been recreated here:

From left to right, these are the Hot Chocolate chef and waiter, Steamer the Engineer, and Smokey the Fireman! For those who are curious, these are not the original designs for these characters I made for past versions of this project. The earlier versions of these minifigures (plus, early versions of the rest of the cast, and 2 scrapped elf minifigures) are shown below.

Now, as you can see, the cast for earlier renditions of the project were quite large, and the reason I scaled back the minifigure selection to the 6 currently in the project was primarily to make this set more cost-effective. However, I am considering adding some of them back in. I don't know if I'll add all 4, but at the very least, we could see 2 of these guys added back in! Ultimately, the decision there depends on the direction I choose to go.

Another cut element, and one that was very hard to loose, was a loop of track for The Polar Express to run on.

I had wanted to include a loop this as a way to provide even more playability to the set. However, I struggled to get this project published with this in the mix, so I ended up having to cut it. I would still like to include this, however, including both this and the display stand in the project is proving to be a challenge.

Oh yeah... there's also a third scrapped element that was featured in earlier versions of this project... a 3rd passenger car. But not just any passenger car. This passenger car was the Abandoned Toy Car from the movie! Unfortunately, I lack good images of it, but in the version from 3 years ago, you can see the car right behind the locomotive & tender.

The car would've been populated by LEGO Microfigures (not minifigures, the Microfigures were featured in the old LEGO Games lines), as the various marionettes. This part of the set was scrapped due to, again, trying to keep costs down, and is unlikely to make a return in any form.

Once again, thank you so much for all your support thus far! Seeing so many of you provide it has been incredibly humbling. Let us steam on to 10k!

Folks, to say I'm absolutely blown away with the support this project has been getting is an understatement. In less than 2 weeks, we've managed to gather over 700 supporters, with less than 300 to go before reaching the first major milestone of 1,000 supporters! I have to give you all my utmost thanks for the support thus far. None of my projects have managed to gather support this quickly, so seeing this project pick up so much "steam" so-to-speak, has been a welcome surprise.

Now, as some of you might be aware, this project is NOT my first take on The Polar Express. Not by a long shot. I had released a number of prior Polar Express projects prior to this. (The one still up on my page is from 2019, so about 3 years ago.) Comparing it to the current rendition of the train, it's evident how much I've evolved as a builder since then. My build-quality has improved dramatically, I went from building 6 stud wide models to the more appropriate 8-studs wide, I swapped building softwares from LEGO Digital Designer to Bricklink Studio (which meant a HUGE boost in render quality), and that's only scratching the surface. I'm still improving as a LEGO builder, as I'm sure all of us are. To show how much I've improved, below is a collage of images comparing the old 2019 version of The Polar Express, to the current rendition.

I think that's one cool thing about working with LEGO as a medium: much like other forms of art, is that as you work more with it, you learn those tips and tricks that allow you to improve you skills, and then you can compare and contrast with your previous work, and see the improvements you've made. I definitely won't say I'm not proud of the work I did 3 years ago. It was one of my best models at the time, but seeing it beside the work I've done now really puts things into perspective, and makes me glad that I haven't given up on this journey to bring The Polar Express to life in LEGO form. I guess The Conductor's words from the end of the film still rings true: "One thing about trains, it doesn't matter where they're going. What matters is deciding, to get on." And I, for one, haven't regretted boarding this train ride. Where things might go from here? Beats me, but I hope you all continue to share this ride with me. To end this update off, I'll be providing some new renders of the train I made recently. Once again, thank you all so much for the support thus far! And let's keep steaming towards 10,000 supporters!

My goodness! It took less than 48 hours to reach our first 100 supporters! To everyone who has offered up their support thus far, I want to thank you out of the bottom of my heart! I also want to thank TeenyTinyBricks for being supporter #100! We’ve still got around 9,900 tickets we need to give out, so continue to share this project around, as we continue to gather the 10,000 passengers we need to reach the North Pole!