Everything Wrong with the Trains in the Polar Express



Starring Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks & Tom Hanks, the Polar Express follows a magical train as it defies numerous laws of physics to take a bunch of kids to see Santa

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0:00 Intro
0:30 Story
6:05 Behind the Scenes
8:39 Everything Wrong
25:30 Conclusion

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46 thoughts on “Everything Wrong with the Trains in the Polar Express”

  1. Friendly reminder that I'm not making a penny from this video thanks to a copyright claim, so if you want to support my channel, make sure to subscribe and watch some more of my other videos or become a member.

    Please? Pretty please?

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  2. i went and saw 1223 in Grand Haven a few months ago, i was doing train research because i was doing a Ghostbusters themed DND game and wanted my crew to chase a ghost locomotive through town, after they captured the ghost train i packed them all up in my car and we drove to Grand Haven so i could show them what they were chasing and get lunch

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  3. it is literally a children's film the polar express is made for children and children don't care about those mistakes because when i was little in the 2000s i said when i saw that film cool a train, for me i didn't care if the film was good or bad is if only there was a train in it because in the 2000s I was a big fan of Thomas the Tank Engine (Thomas de stoomlocomotief in Dutch) so you complain about a movie for small children that is very laughable, have you nothing else to do than destroying my 2000s childhood and my favorite 2000s childhood Christmas movie for views I thought this youtuber is great until I saw this video ps a film does not always have to be realistic because it is a CHILDREN'S FILM.🙄

    Everyone from my generation (Zillennials) love the Polar Express even my parents love Polar Express.🤨

    typical English speaking youtubers always complaining about children's films here in Belgium and in the Netherlands there are no youtubers complaining about children's films because they know it is childish and laughable complaining about children's films as a adult.

    thumbs down👎🏻🤨

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  4. Much as I resent poor technical accuracy in movies, I AM NOT watching this video. Polar Express is a wonderful animated fantasy movie with a powerful message. It is not a technical deposition on railway operations. I’m not going to spoil my years-long love of this work of art by watching nitpicking little errors being called out.

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  5. If you applied a little magic to the train and tried driving the train by having the brakes on the individual cars apply like your balloon model, you'd have to consider that the air brakes take forever to fully release the brake cylinder allowing you to reapply the brakes after having to fully release them.

    That being said I am no expert on train braking systems and thought I'd give my piece on your video, which nice job actually. My information comes mainly from Google searches and train world simulator.

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  6. 21:16 Puts on my Miles Edgewoth Mask
    OBJECTON! Slams on the Prosecutor's Bench
    Your honour, the defense is clearly grasping to make sense of the situation!
    It is specifically stated AND shown that The Driver of 1225 puts the locomotive in reverse, at the timed command of The Conductor; "Right!".
    The rake of coaches aren't shown or implied to do ANYTHING whatsoever, so what he's arguing is utter nonsense!
    If the coaches were producing drag on the locomotive, why would The Conductor order the engine into reverse?
    If it were to draw the attention of the court, the reason being is actually shown when the locomotive started drifting within the first 10 seconds of the ice breaking scene!
    The locomotive was, as he said, jack knife-ed, which would mean the same has to apply when the locomotive has to steer!
    If we were to assume that's the case, then whenever the locomotive steers left; For the sake that everyone understands, The Driver puts the locomotive's wheels into forwards motion, making the engine pull on the coaches, and making it swing left, thus, correcting itself, like Mr. Train of Thought here, says.
    But if we're talking; the locomotive steering right, then he's most embarrassingly wrong!
    The locomotive is pushing it's weight against the coaches because of the backwards motion the wheels are following, and we are shown that the coaches, in fact, curve in on themselves whenever going in either direction.
    So when going left, the locomotive is pulling the coaches, making it rotate left, while going right, it's slightly jack knife-ing on itself, forcing it to swing right, as not only the wheels reversing ensure that the locomotive steers at the proper timing, but the position is opposite to the first one shown, again, within the first 10 seconds of the ice scene!
    I rest my case as Prosecutor of The Ice Scene in The Polar Express.

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  7. The steam coming out from the carriages at the start of the movie could be from… melting snow? The carriage brakes? I mean the train DID just forge through fresh fallen late-night snow down a residential street (that probably doesn’t even have a rail down it). I dunno dude.

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  8. Both Hyce and Train of Thought upload a video critiquing the Polar Express: "If I had a Nickle for every time a niche train YouTuber made a video on the Polar Express I'd have Two Nickels, which isn't a lot but its weird how its happened twice."

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  9. You can still visit 1225 in Michigan. It's not even a Christmas locomotive, the guy giving the tour says (rather dryly) that it's just the engine after 1224 and before 1226. They numbered them sequentially, so this was 1225. That's it, it's just a number.

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  10. I think something to consider is it is aimed at a kid’s audience. I appreciate that there are some adult themes in it but I can show this to my 2 year old son and he won’t know the difference till he’s my age currently 34!! He will just appreciate that it’s a train and it keep chugga chugga choo chooing down the line.

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  11. The entire Glacier Gulch division makes PanAmerican Railways under David Fink management look suitable for express trains. Though with the steep grades on the line to the North Pole, I can certainly see why theyd take a freight locomotive design to pull their main passenger service.

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