Free 'Christmas Carol' train rolls into Oakland this weekend

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jun 22, 2009 | by Karen D'Souza

"People today just don't know how to use their imagination," says the Lodi man as he checked out the glowing bank of LCD screens. "If you have everything right in front of your face, you don't have to use what's in between your ears."

Authentic enterprise

Indeed, literature buffs may most delight in the richly appointed museum car, which showcases artifacts from the venerable Charles Dickens Museum in London.

Among the small but priceless collection are a first edition of the original novel, hand-scrawled notes by the author and his feather-tipped quill pen. If you know your Fagin from your Fezziwig, it's an exhibition guaranteed to put a little holly in your heart.

Authenticity is precisely the point of the whole enterprise, according to Gault: "The technology allows us to bring the words to life as vividly as Dickens intended."

Plugging the movie, not to mention HP gizmos and gadgets galore, doesn't hurt either.

"The train tour offers an innovative way for guests to interact with HP's technology," says Mendenhall. "They get to see first-hand how HP technology can create meaningful experiences in their lives."

Connoisseurs of the Dickens canon, meanwhile, will note that the author was famed for his love of train travel and the freedom it afforded him to crisscross the country reading from his collected works (not to mention holding secret assignations, as some scholars suggest). God bless us everyone!

Contact Karen D'Souza at kdsouza@mercurynews.com or 408-271- 3772. Check out her theater reviews, features and blog at www.mercury news.com/karendsouza.Exhibit-- WHAT: Disney's "A Christmas Carol" Train-- When: June 26-28; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 9 a.m to 4 p.m. Sunday-- Where: Middle Harbor Shoreline Park, 2777 Middle Harbor Road, Oakland-- Tickets: Free; www.

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