"Christmas Carol" Nationwide Train Tour

Ed Kelley · **Posted:** Thu May 07, 2009 11:04 pm

Has anyone seen this? Surely among the bigger PR stunts in recent Hollywood history...
http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2009-05-07-disney-christmas-carol-train_N.htm

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Fri May 08, 2009 7:20 am

I see the Disney railfan tradition continues.......

Quote:

Disney studio chief Dick Cook . . . who worked in the early 1970s as a steam locomotive and Monorail driver at Disneyland, and before that as a laborer for the Santa Fe Railway.

"I've always loved them, ever since I was a kid and had my own little track around the tree at holiday time," says Cook, who counts 11 models just around his studio office. "To put it mildly, I have a strong affection for trains."

pennsy3750 · **Joined:** Tue Jun 13, 2006 9:27 pm **Posts:** 68

The USA Today article says six cars with two engines. Anyone have any further details on what those might be?

Paul D · **Posted:** Fri May 08, 2009 9:25 am

Former Artrain equipment?

ctjacks · **Posted:** Fri May 08, 2009 10:12 am

They are the former ArtTrain cars.

DavidKaplan · **Posted:** Fri May 08, 2009 11:21 am

TRAINS' Newswire found on their website indicated the following on 4/20/09:

=========================================================
LOS ANGELES - Disney will send a train on a nationwide tour in support of its upcoming remake of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" starring Jim Carrey. The diesel-powered train will depart Los Angeles in late May, and will visit 41 cities in the U.S. and Canada.

The touring consist will include five cars: a baggage car, three display cars, and the heavyweight observation car Lamberts Point, which the train's staff will use. The three display cars were previously part of the Art Train while the baggage car is leased.

Four of the five cars are being transformed by Disney into a representation of 19th century London and will have a variety of interactive displays for visitors. Disney has a staff of approximately 30 working on the train in the Los Angeles area, completely refurbishing it for the project. Planned motive power is to be a pair of Amtrak locomotives, which along with the display cars will be "wrapped" in Disney promotional material.

A fleet of trucks will travel with the train, arriving at display locations ahead of its arrival with equipment to set up tents and other displays to promote the film. Visitors who have seen the train during construction said they have been surprised by the amount of work that has gone into the project, and that for the first time the "Disney experience" of the company's theme parks will be brought to the rails.

The movie, set for a late-October release, will appear in a digital three-dimensional format. Carrey's voice will portray Scrooge, as well as the three ghosts.

ctjacks · **Posted:** Sat May 09, 2009 8:09 pm

My big question is: in the 41 cities, where will they park the train? They will need a site that is accessible to pedestrians, parking and/or mass transit, not in a bad neighborhood, and on a siding they can tie up for several days. In a metro area such as Detroit I can't think of where they could find that. I think this was a major reason ArTrain gave up last year: they were running out of places to park the train. Just in their home state of Michigan over the past few years the place they parked the train in Detroit got paved over, and the line to where they parked the train in Ionia was slated for abandonment.

Chris.

Heavenrich · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 11:07 am **Posts:** 630

ctjacks wrote:

My big question is: in the 41 cities, where will they park the train? They will need a site that is accessible to pedestrians, parking and/or mass transit, not in a bad neighborhood, and on a siding they can tie up for several days. In a metro area such as Detroit I can't think of where they could find that. I think this was a major reason ArTrain gave up last year: they were running out of places to park the train. Just in their home state of Michigan over the past few years the place they parked the train in Detroit got paved over, and the line to where they parked the train in Ionia was slated for abandonment.

Chris.

I think you're thinking of the old Semta station near the Ren Cen.... which is now a parking lot.

In the Detroit area, the exhibit with be at Greenfield Village which has plenty of space ...

Artrain used to have exhibits at their siding in Ann Arbor (off of Main Street)..... I think their problem was more one of funding, but I've also heard it was getting too hard for them to do things they way they used to.

BOb H