Want to ride East Troy's Christmas Train? Don't wait until November to buy tickets

MUKWONAGO - Funny as it might seem, if your Christmas wish list includes a ride on the local holiday train, now is the time to get onboard.

A modern tradition coupled to a much older one, the East Troy Railroad Museum's Christmas train doesn't begin offering rides until Nov. 25, ending Dec. 17, but ticket sales are another matter. They're typically long gone before the first ride takes place.

"If families want to come, they should make their plans and make their reservations soon," East Troy Railroad President Ward Komorowski said as ticket sales picked up steam a full three weeks before ... Halloween.

It's no different this year for the eight-date rides on Saturdays and Sundays.

"We're about 60% sold out already, and that's just with our internal distribution and our Facebook posts," East Troy Railroad marketing chairman Steve Thomas said Wednesday.

'Polar Express' adds to the mystique of train rides

Why the startling interest? Perhaps, pin it on "The Polar Express," the 2004 mythical and mystical animated movie starring Tom Hanks, which reinforced the notion of riding a holiday train to a magical place, real or imagined. (In the case of the East Troy train, the magical place where Santa Claus and his workshop await is the Elegant Farmer in Mukwonago.)

"They didn't sell out as quickly in the early years as we do now, so it could be because of the movie," Thomas said.

But the climb in ticket sales is no myth, he added. In the decade since he began serving as marketing head for the seasonal train, ticket sales have grown from about 1,600 riders to more than 5,000 in 2022, with the museum increasing the number available as much as it could.

While the museum has been offering Christmas train rides for at least 15 years, the tradition dates back much further and well beyond the 2004 movie.

"Christmas trains have been going on my whole lifetime," said Thomas, a 1980 Carroll College graduate. "I know I rode one when I was 3 years old in Seattle back in the day."

However, the uptick in sales in recent years is undeniable, and it isn't just a local phenomenon.

A similar holiday train near Madison, which gained licensing rights to the name "Polar Express," was a fast sellout each year before the train was discontinued by the Wisconsin & Southern railroad because of a shift in priorities to freight traffic.

And in Michigan, the heart of "The Polar Express" story for both the 1986 book by Chris Van Allsburg and the 2004 movie, a Christmas train featuring the Pere Marquette No. 1225 steam locomotive on which the film version was based is typically sold out by late summer, shortly after tickets go on sale.

East Troy train rides extend beyond Christmas season

The East Troy museum, which uses old electric-powered interurban cars that propel themselves, isn't only about Christmas trains, of course.

The East Troy Electric Railroad offers the bunny train, dinner trains and Sunday brunch trains in the spring and summer. The trains typically board at the East Troy Depot, 2002 Church St. in East Troy, but spring and summer regular trains also board at the Elegant Farmer Platform, 1545 Main St. in Mukwonago.

The museum offers memberships, which allow early access to all train ticket sales.

For the Christmas train, tickets (which range from $8 to $27) are still currently available via the web page devoted to the event. The rides take about two hours round-trip and include a photo opportunity with Santa, plus cookies and refreshments at the Elegant Farmer.

Contact Jim Riccioli at (262) 446-6635 or  james.riccioli@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at  @jariccioli.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: East Troy Railroad Museum expects fast sales for Christmas tickets