What a surprise to see a near-identical train showing up in made-for-tv movies! I’ve seen this train in at least two Hallmark Channel Christmas movies. These movies were released in the years 2004 and 2005 and are still being shown on the Hallmark Channel during the Christmas season.
I’m guessing that, when filming these movies, the prop master needed a train for the set and performed the same research that I did when trying to locate such a train. I’m assuming that he came to the same conclusion that I did that there’s nothing readily available on the market, and that he would need to build one. He probably found the same plans from the 1965 issue of Popular Mechanics and built one from that.
I would love to get some detailed specs and photos of this train for comparison. But I have been unable to find who to contact at the Hallmark Channel. I’ll bet their version is stored away somewhere in a warehouse and waiting for its next movie appearance!
The first movie is “A Boyfriend for Christmas” released by the Hallmark Channel in 2004. The train appears in the opening credits during the first two minutes of the movie. It can be seen in the following clip from the movie:
The second movie is “Single Santa Meets Mrs. Clause” released in 2004. The train first appears at the 5:46 mark in the following clip:
The next movie is “Meet the Santas” released by the Hallmark Channel in 2005. The train is part of the backdrop of Santa’s North Pole Workshop. It can be seen at the 20:29 mark in the following movie. Unfortunately, the video has been removed from Youtube for now, so we can’t link to it.
If you do get to see the movie, you’ll notice that the train retains its same color scheme and markings in both movies.