You can't really board The Polar Express, the titular train of both the children's book and the Tom Hanks movie, but you can get the next best thing in New Hampshire's White Mountains.

The story focuses on a little boy who has been told by his friends that there is no Santa Claus. Unwilling to believe this, he lies awake in his bed on Christmas Eve, waiting for the sound of Santa's sleigh. Instead, he hears the hissing steam and squeaking metal of the Polar Express as it stops outside his window, ready to take him and other children to the North Pole.

The real version of The Polar Express is an authentic New England rail expressway that departs from North Conway Village, N.H., and Lincoln, N.H. The Polar Express snakes through the White Mountains on a two-hour journey filled with Christmas adventures.

Pajama-clad children and their parents take the twice-daily trips to the North Pole Thursdays through Sundays along with a crew of elves and Santa Claus himself. The trains depart through Dec. 22.

But if New Hampshire is too cold for you, the Grand Canyon Railway offers their own Polar Express excursions to the "North Pole" through early January. The train departs from the station in Williams, Ariz., about 30 minutes west of Flagstaff, Ariz., and less than three hours north of Phoenix.

The Arizona version of the Polar Express even offers a special "Christmas Eve Limited" run during which guests receive extra-special gifts from Santa, such as a unique commemorative bell and other presents.