Ride the real Polar Express with Santa in London

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the animated film, The Polar Express, and the train arrives for the first time with Santa in London from now until 23 December.

The Polar Express, the award-winning children's book by American writer and illustrator Chris Van Allsburg, has become synonymous with Christmas.

In the story, a little boy climbs aboard The Polar Express steam train that magically appears on Christmas Eve in front of his house. The train takes him and some other children on a journey to the North Pole. He receives a sleigh bell from Santa, loses it and is heartbroken. On Christmas day, Santa returns his bell, confirming to the little boy that Santa exists. He's able to hear the bell, but his parents cannot.

Steam trains and Christmas have been linked well before the book was published in 1985 (and made into an animated film in 2004), however. Model train sets were seen circling in holiday window displays of Macy's, the major retailer in the US, as early as 1883; while in the UK, model railways became popular with the 1920s Hornby Clockwork Train Set and appeared in holiday display windows in the mid 1930s at London's Whiteley's department store.

"It felt like magic for people to be able to stay in touch with each other, travel and send packages after the Industrial Revolution," explained Dr Matthew Teichman, a philosopher with a film studies background and adjunct professor of computer science at the University of Chicago. "[Rail travel] was socially transformative."

When I hear that The Polar Express train ride is coming to London for the first time this December, bringing to life parts of the book and film, I hope that some of that Christmas magic will rub off on me. My five-year-old daughter has started to doubt Santa's existence, and my own father passed away on Christmas Eve last year, so it is a poignant time. I want us to feel the spirit of Christmas by riding this 10-carriage, 640-seat train. But at around £60 per seat for a 12-mile roundtrip journey between Euston and Wembley, I'm slightly sceptical.

Arriving at Euston station, we manage our way through the evening rush-hour commuter chaos to Platform 16 and find a queue of families acting out the scenes from the story. There are three weeks until Christmas, but it looks like Christmas morning, with children and adults dressed in festive pyjamas to replicate scenes from the film.

We're handed wristbands and golden tickets for our journey. Above a makeshift stage, the neon-purple Polar Express sign glows like the North star. Holly and Noel, two entertainers, are singing Christmas classics as if they are on a broadcast radio station in the era of Norman Rockwell Americana. A young girl is doing cartwheels; my daughter joins a crowd of dancing children. My partner and I are still dubious, especially after passing a wall of merchandise that catches the eyes of children and captures the wallets of parents.

Then, a black steam engine arises out of a haze of smoke and we are enveloped by the smell of burning coal. Characters from the movie, such as the conductor, the Hobo and an elf, emerge. A Tom Hanks doppelganger appears as the conductor and instructs us to board the train. Like the movie, he is everywhere on the train – this time with a replica of himself in each carriage welcoming the passengers aboard instead of playing most of the main characters.  

We alight a formerly retired British InterCity rail carriage and sit facing each other at four-seat tables, each with an electrified kerosene-like lantern. The car is decorated with Christmas lights that twinkle to the music. I feel transported to post World-War Two Midwestern America; my daughter feels like she is part of the movie.

The conductor and two women, named Chef Crumbs and Chef Cocoa, dance and sing through the narrow aisles as we start the journey. My daughter and the other children clap and dance in their seats. We listen to a narrator read the book over the loudspeaker while the conductor, Chef Crumbs and Chef Cocoa each hold an oversized book of The Polar Express and walk through the aisle. The children on the train are asked to turn the pages as the voice overhead recites the story, and we are encouraged to make hissing train noises and other sound effects to accompany the story. Hot chocolate served in take-away cups and chocolate chip cookies keep both the adults and children pacified.

There is more singing and dancing but now to Christmas carols. We receive song sheets, and my daughter sings along with the characters on the train. "Are we going to the North Pole or is it pretend?" she asks me.

We've actually reached Wembley and are returning to Euston, but the highlight of the journey, Santa, is yet to appear. He is pre-empted by the Hobo from the movie, who runs through the carriage holding a bell, while making a ringing motion. He says that only believers can hear it. My partner and I can't hear the bell; my daughter says she can hear it, but I think she's imagining it.

As we wait for Santa to reach our table, the conductor punches our golden tickets. When Santa arrives, he hands us each a silver bell and asks if we hear it. I see my partner genuinely smile as it rings.

Dr Jennifer Frost, associate professor of management, sport and tourism at La Trobe University, later tells me that while the Polar Express is transformative for the children in the book, perhaps it's also transformative for adults.  "You have children who don't believe in magic and won't be able to see magic. But once you believe, you can see all these amazing things unfolding."

The whole carriage, from grandparents to grandchildren, starts to sing Jingle Bells and the Twelve Days of Christmas. As the engine pulls into Euston station's bright lights, the voice of Van Allsburg, the author of The Polar Express, ends the journey by reminding us to "remember the thing about trains: It doesn't matter where they're going. What matters is deciding to get onboard."

I am touched when my daughter shakes the silver sleigh bell that Santa has given her and slyly asks me, "Mummy, can you hear the bell?"

Putting on my coat at the end of the journey and heading back through crowds of commuters in Euston station, I am a bit sad that the experience is over. Even my partner, who had his doubts, says he enjoyed the trip. The magic of The Polar Express has left us believing again.

My daughter in the meantime is saving her bell for grandma.

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