Matthew Burnette, Staff Writer

The Polar Express has left the station and is making stops all around Coffee and surrounding counties to spread Christmas cheer courtesy of Cannon County’s Huff & Puff Trucking Co.

Located off Hwy. 53, Huff & Puff, who hauls all over the U.S. and Canada, has toured around Cannon, Warren and Coffee County for the last three years to various Christmas events and parades free of charge with its interactive Polar Express model, equipped with a snow and steam blower, train whistle and horn.

One of its most recent stops in Coffee County was to Hickerson Elementary School where Principal Kathy Crabtree says she agreed to host the train for one simple reason.

“Because it’s fun,” she enthused. “It’s not been here for us before, so it’s an experience for the kids to participate in that they normally wouldn’t get to.”

Children who visit the Polar Express at its various locations not only get to climb aboard, but they also get a punched ticket similar to the ones in the Christmas film and book as they do.

Huff & Puff owner Bruce Daniel explained that they started taking the train around as a fun Christmas activity.

“We just started it for the kids,” he said. “The Polar Express was just a hit. It just took off by itself. We go around to a lot of schools and a lot of civic groups and stuff like that around Christmastime It’s just something to try and support the communities.”

While fun for the kids, Daniel admitted that the process can be kind of “hectic,” though very much worth it.

“It’s a challenge to get it all coordinated and done with everything going on, but after you get going it’s a pleasure,” he noted. “Like the snow blowing over here and the kids playing in the snow, that’s always pretty neat. It’s just being a part of the community and blending in for the kids to remember us and things like that.”

“That’s what makes this really special,” added Daniel’s wife Melodie, who he refers to as “the boss.”

This Christmas season has been the busiest to date with around 20 stops for the Polar Express, including the Downtown Manchester Christmas Stroll.

The train, hauled on a trailer by one of Huff & Puff’s trucks, visits communities where the company has both personal and working relationships. The visits to Coffee County are particularly special to Melodie, who was born and raised here.

“It’s my favorite place to go,” she said.

“I’m from Woodbury so I came over and stole me a Coffee County girl,” added Daniel.

He says that other than putting smiles on children’s faces, the venture is also a great way to introduce different communities to the Huff & Puff brand.

“That’s one thing I’ve noticed out of all of it,” started Daniel. “The kids will draw a picture or something, and they’ll do our logo in red, and they’ll make it do our arch in the logo. They recognize that.”

In addition to the hectic nature of scheduling all of the stops, Daniel also explained that they have to be wary of weather when visiting different locations.

“We have to dodge the rain,” he said. “All of the electrical on this, we can’t get it wet. Today’s a good day. It’s cool, cold and the wind’s helping us and everything is working good right now. We can’t get it out on a rainy day because it will mess up all the electrical.”

Huff & Puff first acquired the train after connecting with a plant in Portland, Tennessee that the company hauls out of. They wanted the company to haul their train in a parade for them.

“I said we’d be glad to haul it for you in the parade, and I went up there and seen it, and after the parade was over, I asked what they were going to do with it and they said they didn’t know,” Daniel recalled. “I said if you ever want to sell it, I might be interested.”

The plant then got back into contact later that summer and said they needed a low trailer to move steel around in the building, which opened an opportunity for Daniel and the trucking company.

“I said I had one, so I went out with one of our old trailers that we took out of commission and worked on it and took it up there and moved the steel,” he explained. “They said that’s going to work. They asked what I wanted for the trailer, and I told them I wanted the train, so I traded a junky trailer for the train.”

After getting the train back to their headquarters, Daniel says that all of the employees thought he was joking. He says that Melodie is the one that had the vision and came up with the idea for the Polar Express.

“All of the neat things she came up with,” he said. “She’s really the brains behind it. I’m just the brawn. When I brought it in, she just named it and we went in that night and watched the movie, and I said you’re right, and it just took off.”

Daniel also gives a lot of credit for the venture’s success to Emily Hargrove who works on Huff & Puff’s marketing.

She says she enjoys getting to see the smiles on all of the kids’ faces.

“It makes all the chaos and the hard work and scheduling and all of that worth it,” said Hargrove. “When you see their faces, it means everything. There are some kids that don’t get to see anything like this, and just to be able to bring that Christmas magic to them, it’s pretty special.”

Hargrove also emphasized that the Polar Express was something the trucking company can do to give back to the different communities that they service and the children.

“That’s the future, you know,” she explained. “They may remember one day when they’re 20 and looking for a career, that Huff and Puff was willing to give back to the community, and we hope they remember us for that.”