Ended up riding the Chicago Transit Authority's Holiday Train completely by accident tonight. It was the train that came when I came out of the grocery store.

Here's some stats from the press release:

Decorated with 35,000 lights, the six-car train features a flat car in the middle that carries Santa and his reindeer. Car interiors are decked out with bows, garland, red and green lighting and hand poles wrapped to look like candy canes. The exterior is wrapped in a vinyl material depicting a holiday theme.

Yesterday the train derailed near the Sedgewick stop. The Chicago Tribune ran a story but their site requies you to register so here's a little cutting and pasting:

The Chicago Transit Authority's festive Holiday Train derailed Saturday evening with more than 100 passengers aboard, but nobody was injured.

Festooned with lights and Christmas figures, one of the middle cars of the four-car train derailed for unknown reasons on the Brown Line near the Sedgwick Street station, said CTA spokeswoman Kim Myles.

"It's a pretty popular attraction" in its 12th season, Myles said. Passengers evacuated safely, using a track-level footpath about 7:30 p.m.

"So were you on the train yesterday when it derailed?" I asked the elf who looked a lot like Missy Elliot.

"The train didn't derail," Merry Missy told me, "I don't know why they said that. I guess because they was on the ground and couldn't see what was happening."

A child began crying and Merry Missy said, "uh oh! Sugar! Sugar!" and ran towards the child with her bucket of candy canes.

Santa entered our car (Santa, unlike ordinary riders, is permitted to pass between cars) and the kids went pleasingly nuts. Santa had what looked like a real beard, fake whiteness though.