Corrected entry: The train that brings Sam Jones' relatives in is a Union Pacific train. Union Pacific never operated east of Chicago so they wouldn't have been in North Carolina.
Corrected entry: 15th Dec '03 - In reference to a previous joke about christmas gifts, Katie was out shopping and saw a xylophone in the window (the gift Martin said that she definately wouldn't be getting him), but it was a glockenspiel in the shop, not a xylophone.
Correction: Many many people make that mistake of getting the two mixed up, she might not be very musically talented. Character mistake, but not a movie mistake.
Correction: Locomotives of foreign railroads can operate anywhere. For instance, a Union Pacific locomotive could easily end up on a route for the old Coastal Railway, or the BNSF or Norfolk Southern. I have actually myself seen a train in Georgia operating with 8 locomotives from 8 different companies on CSX track. So this is really not an error per se. A Union Pacific Locomotive could easily have operated there. I was a conductor for 5 years.