How many of each car for Polar Express.

In the movie it ranged from 5 to infinity, depending on which scene.

Rusty

Lionel has released seven cars in the scale Polar Express passenger series. This makes a nice train.

Forum member Keith and I have added to it with a custom RPO Car and a Conductor Car.

From what I remember of the movie, it was an observation car and three or more passenger cars.  There was never a baggage car or diner.

Overall , the total number in the consist varied from scene to scene.  That's magic trains for ya

This is a fantasy train, people.  There is no correct consist for the train. As pointed out, the number of cars in the movie varied from scene to scene, but with no baggage car and no diner. So, do what you want.

Vern

The most important factor in how many PE cars to pull is how large or small your layout is. My layout is oval shapped and 15' long and 9' wide, and locomotive pulling 5-6 scale passenger cars look "good." If I had a larger layout I would add 2-3 more cars.

In the movie, it was a dream train, and it varied from scene to seen on purpose.

Sometimes it was like 6 cars, then again it was like 12 cars, then much longer in yet another scene.

I don't recall any diner or baggage car at all, but in the one scene where there were many cars, it may be there and you can tell because the camera is very far back.

I typically pull six cars with my early small motor PE and that seems fine with me.

Since the movie kept changing the amount of cars, just about any amount of cars will work.

The small motor PE doesn't have the same pulling power as the larger motor PE that came later, so you may be limited by that especially if you have grades.