The Magic Train

The Magic Train is a male train tank engine character that first appeared in JumpStart Preschool (1998).

Appearance
In JumpStart Preschool (1998), the Magic Train is gold and silver with brown eyes and brown eyebrows. He is a 2-2-0 Planet type tank engine. He has a driver's cab and a tall smoke stack. His front wheels are able to act somewhat like hands and make gestures. He is often depicted with one passenger car, though he is also sometimes depicted without it.

In JumpStart Preschool: Who Left the Juice in the Caboose? and JumpStart ABC's, the Magic Train has a red, yellow, and pale blue color scheme. He has a yellow face and a round red nose. He is always depicted with a passenger car and a caboose. He also has a train whistle that has a face on it.

In JumpStart ABC's only, the Magic Train is depicted as emitting clouds of smoke shaped like the letters A, B, and C from his smokestack. In every other appearance, he only emits regular clouds of smoke.

In JumpStart books published by Scholastic in the early 2000s, the Magic Train largely resembles his JumpStart Preschool (1998) appearance, with minor differences.

JumpStart Preschool (1998)
The Magic Train can take the player on a magical train ride. Once the player collects four train tickets by completing activities, he or she is sent to the station, where The Magic Train will prompts the player to pick a place to go to. When the player clicks on a tunnel, The Magic Train will go to that location.

The Magic Train also appears at the sign-in screen and front yard of the schoolhouse, where he gives the player instructions. He also appears on the difficulty levels adjustment screen for the Wagon and Balls activity.

JumpStart ABC's
The Magic Train appears at the overhead view of the locations in the game, which serves as the game's menu screen. Whenever the player clicks on a location, he drives to it. The Magic Train also appears in the Train Station activity, where the player must clear bushes away from the railroad so he can get by.

JumpStart Learning Games Phonics
The Magic Train appears as one of the possible causes for the bus stopping.

JumpStart Preschool: Who Left the Juice in the Caboose?
The plot centers around someone spilling juice and seemingly not cleaning it up in the caboose of the Magic Train. The Magic Train can be seen primarily in the opening and ending songs of the video, Who Left the Juice in the Caboose? and Responsibility. He also makes a brief appearance in The ABC Song, where he is seen pulling a caboose shaped like the letter C. The video's transition sequences always show the Magic Train as well.

JumpStart Kindergarten: Why Did the Bus Stop?
The Magic Train briefly makes an appearance when the school bus has to stop at a railroad crossing to let the train go by.

In Books
The Magic Train appears in various workbooks aimed a preschool/pre-K level published by Scholastic in the early 2000s, such as Uppercase Letters, Colors, Shapes &amp; Sizes, Word Games, Rhyming Words, Match &amp; Remember, Number Games, and Counting 1-20.

Quotes

 * "Ready for another trip? Just click on any tunnel, and off we go!" - from JumpStart Preschool (1998)

Trivia

 * On the VHS cover for JumpStart Preschool: Who Left the Juice in the Caboose?, the Magic Train is mistakenly colored as entirely blue.
 * The Magic Train is a 2-2-0 tank engine being a Planet type steam locomotive, which was only built during the pioneer railroad days, circa 1830. These types of engines have four wheels (two leading wheels, two driving wheels, and no trailing wheels).
 * The Magic Train usually pulls one coach, but also hauls a coach and a caboose, then even hauls a coach and a flatcar with the letter C on it, hauls two coaches, and a car with the numbers on it.