Fred Astaire reprises his role of S.D. Kluger (the mailman) from Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970).
The song "Big Rock Candy Mountain" was written at the close of the 19th century, and was a look at what everyone, especially hobos, were searching for. Harry McClintock featured the song on a popular record in 1928. A "censored" version, suitable for children, was recorded by Burl Ives in 1949, and changes the "cigarette trees" and "streams of alcohol" to "peppermint trees" and "streams of lemonade." Ives was an occasional narrator for Rankin Bass holiday cartoons.
The bear is named Gadzooks, a medieval English way of saying God's Hooks, the nails of Jesus' Crucifixion. Therefore, the Christian reason for Easter is tacitly acknowledged.
One of the locomotives says he delivers coals to Newcastle. This is a common expression for a useless, redundant task, as Newcastle is one of England's main producers of coal.