| |
Although Santa's big night out is Christmas Eve, he also does a lot of
pre-Christmas traveling as well. Many children to write Santa,
informing him of their wants for Christmas, but many choose to visit him
at malls to deliver their lists personally. So, in the weeks preceding
that special night, Santa meets kids by traveling around in luxury and
comfort in his own train, the Santa Special. The Santa Special consists
of 4 cars plus the engine-- below are pics and descriptions.
Santa has always been a huge steam fan, but even he saw the handwriting
on the wall WRT the fate of steam power, and so in 1936 he ordered one
of the first mass-produced diesels, an EMD SW. The "S" stood for 600
HP (why, I don't know), and the "W" stood for "welded" (referring to the
frame. At the time, they also were producing Cast frames "SC", but soon
abandoned the cast frames altogether in favor of the in-house built and
lighter welded frames).
Interestingly, EMD originally produced the SW with 2 short stacks, but
it didn't take long for the engineer elves to become fed-up with noxious
diesel fumes blowing straight back in their faces, and so they, as did
many other railroads who ordered these locos, raised the height of the
stack. Although one might presume that Santa would number his Special
"No. 1", I think you can spot the reference to the number 1225;-)
The next car is the caboose, in which the 2 crews of 2 elf engineers
live and sleep. It is basically a SOO with the logo removed, because of
its festive colors:-)
Next is the stock car, which houses Santa's 9 reindeer . Sometimes
photo ops call for shots with the reindeer, and frankly they enjoy
getting out of the North Pole more than just once a year;-) These
travels, however, can lead to some pretty warm climes, and so Santa had
a state-of-the-art Thermo King refrigeration unit placed in the stock
car to keep his native Arctic Circle friends cool and comfortable.
The flat car simply displays Santa's famous sled as well as provides a
space for reindeer eats (the tan crate in pic).
Bringing up the rear is Santa and Mrs Claus' personal car, which
includes 2 full bathrooms, a master bedroom, sleeping quarters, a full
service galley, a study (with full satellite communication
capabilities), and an observation lounge at the rear. Along with the 4
engineer elves (2 crews of 2), the total crew of the Santa Special also
includes 2 elf cooks, 1 elf servant, 1 elf reindeer coordinator, Santa's
personal aide (also elfin), and of course Mr. & Mrs. Claus:-)
You can see the Santa Special here:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=185
Hope you enjoy it and have a Merry Christmas!
-John
|
|
Message has 2 Replies:
4 Messages in This Thread:
   
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
