An Ride Into Arendellian Railways and Its Historical Counterparts
With the limited presence of rail infrastructure that is shown in the Frozen verse once being a spinoff short Operation Puffin and a short comic of a queens journey to a foreign country we take a deep dive look into truly one of the most unique aspects of Frozen but not because of its greatness of the material shown as soon we'll find out.
Operation Puffins: The Regional Express
An unique short film to have featured the presence of a completed Arendelle railway that is the scene throughout most of the film.
Although the train is shown in Lego form it was easy to have match to its real life counterparts considering there was strong details and features throughout the train that made it uniquely identical to its historical counterparts. As a disclaimer the designs may have been truly inspired and use as reference but this analysis is based on resemblance and characteristics.
Arendellian Steam Locomotive - Type 14a 4-6-0
The steam locomotive featured in the short is identical to an American descent locomotive that had operated on the Norwegian railways in the late 18th century and has a rich history during its days of operation.
The Type 14a 4-6-0 was a series class of locomotives that operated on the Norwegian State Railways was unique as it was the rare few locomotive in their fleet to had been designed and built in the United States but serve their time in the country. They were built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1879 and then were shipped over, mind you as fully built complete locomotives overseas. The locomotive featured in the film has very classy design characteristics just like its real life counterparts made them most American style locomotives to have operated on the Norwegian railways.
The biggest identifical feature is the plow mounted on the locomotive which featured a grilled design which was a style only found on American trains of their time along with the headlamp style standardized by the United States Railroad Administration (USRA). There was only four of this class of locomotives ever made each given their own uniquely name the "America", "Washington", "Leiv", and "Baldwin" with three being retired from service in 1925 and the last one "America" final retirement in 1934. Unfornuately none were preserved in a museum but historical records still are archived such as drawing and blueprints. A little concidence on the filmmakers part to include an American style locomotive in Norway but opened up a rich and unique history of a not so far distant era of Norwegian railroading.
A photo of the cab and controls of a similar Baldwin engine the same era.
Passenger Train coaches - BR Mark 1 Coaches
We travel back to Europe for this comparison as the passenger coaches featured on the Arendellian train are of descendants of a turning point of United Kingdom Rail history. In the early 1950s UK rail system known as British Railways (BR) begin the era of mass standardlization the rail coach featured in the images above will be known as the BR MK 1 indicating first designs of mass standardization of railway carriages these would be introduced in 1951 and begin to fall out of service until the 1974 when later modern designs took over. Alot of these coaches offer a vintage atmosphere old fashioned style interior with wood glazed paneling and curtains which should sounds similiar to a certain "Castle interior design" :). With these coaches serving British Railway along with an alternative universe (Frozen) they were designed for speeds up to 100~110 Miles Per Hour (MPH) and came with electric lighting and heating, Yes! you heard that right Arendelle being a kingdom in the 18th century has trains that can go up to high speed up to 100 miles per hour and electric innovations! mid 19th century railroading in a 18th century universe timeline.
The resemblance is incredibility remarkable although unfortunately I couldn't find a artwork or paint job that matches similar to how the train was designed in the short film although I will bring these specific train coaches back in a later discussion.
Frozen Comic Anna Souvenirs: A Train of Revolution
The train featured in this comic is the upmost special out of them all and also is the most realistic with the Frozen universe (Particularly pre Frozen 1). Although the version featured in the comic is one less wheel than the original its inspired by a range of locomotives built by Robert Stephson a famous UK engineer of his time in 1835 these direct descendants was the first locomotive to ever exist in Europe and marks the age of the birth of rail transport innovation. This particular steam locomotive model featured in the left image named "Adler" was also the first locomotive to ever operate in Germany which fits the language of this comic coincidentally. With the train featured in this comic being a more generic outline there is not right or wrong exact answers of which exact model of locomotive it can be but rather a hint at of a diverse range of locomotives made by the same manufacturer in the UK of a revolutionary era.
A Very Derailed Timeline
The Frozen timeline shares its inconsistency but truly the railroad spectrum is a wild one with each type of Frozen media having its own representation of what historical timeline is followed it seems. Operation Puffins features the most futuristic trains out of all the time media with passenger coaches from a FULL century ahead of the canonical Frozen timeline which the film implies that alot of technological advancements and innovations had rapidly take place all within a short timeline in the Frozen realm to put into perspective of how out of place if would be for the timeline to follow historical account using Operation Puffins as a basis the United Kingdom would introduce the world's first High Speed intercity train known as the Class 43 in 1975 being the fastest train of its era which would only put it in 1867 in the Frozen universe considering the 24 year difference (21 after Frozen 2). Although the more realistic outcome would be using Frozen 2 that shows early construction of a railroad system along the Arendelle hillside and the one comic that featured the earliest form of rail transportation.
The Class 43 High Speed Train Introduced in the UK in 1975 featuring the "Dynamics Lines" livery ownership of the First Great Western Railway. This was introduced only 24 years after the train coaches featured in Operation Puffins
Arendelle Stream Falls Scene
A Union Pacific freight passing at the scenic location Multnomah Falls in State of Oregon, United States where tourist can view the falls from the bridge oversight. A relevant image to this post because it features a train but most importantly this scenic location was used as inspiration for the bridge waterfall scene near the ending of Frozen 2 even the bridge design is incredibility identical.