I’m guessing Lionel had a major part in the movie “Polar Express”. Did they create the movie to help market the Polar Express train or did someone write the movie and go to them? Does Lionel actively try to get product placement in movies and TV?
Warner Brothers based the PE engine on Pere Marquette Berkshire #1225. They actually chartered the engine to CGI over it. The cars in the movie are rather fanciful, with their number, length, door handles and such changing throughout the movie.
Lionel had already cataloged a Nickle Plate Road “Baby Berkshire”, so taking the step of adding the larger pilot was easy. The Nickle Plate and the Pere Marquette had nearly identical Berks, as they were both owned by the same guys.
The passenger cars are off-the-shelf “Baby Madison” cars tooled up around 1973. The big change was a new roof mold and Delrin plastic Observation Car platform and railing.
Jon [8D]
The book, with a locomotive based on a Berk predated the movie by several years. A tip of the hat to Warner for trying to get the locomotive in harmony with the vision in the book. According to the folks at MTH, both they and Lionel tried for the license, but Warner went with Lionel due to brand recognition.