Santa Train’s 82nd annual visit delivers hope to corner of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee coal country
Since 1943, residents of Appalachia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee have looked forward to Santa’s arrival. Not in a sleigh on their rooftops, but on a train.
The Santa Train celebrates its 82nd run this year, bringing gifts and cheer to small towns along a 110-mile segment of CSX rail line located in the remote river valleys of coal country. Many of the children who line the paths and wait for Santa on the Saturday before Thanksgiving are the third, fourth or fifth generation to do so.
“I look for him every year. Counting down the days, thank you CSX and the Santa Train volunteers,” said Sandra Owens, of Hessey, Va., who carried a pink pillowcase with a message in black ink. 82.”
Owens moved to Kentucky from Delaware 55 years ago when she married and experienced her first Santa train a few years later, when her son turned 3. Now 46, she brings her grandchildren these days. In a few more years, she hopes to have great-grandchildren.
“The children’s faces are what make me happy,” she said. “You can’t see anything better.”
The train begins in Shelpiana, Kentucky, where families wait before dawn. At each station there are tens to hundreds of people. Many gather around the back of the train, where Santa and his helpers throw out stuffed animals. Meanwhile, groups of volunteer “elves” carrying bags full of gifts stream in, making sure every child goes home with something. Each year they give away more than 15 tons of gifts that include hats, gloves and fuzzy blankets as well as board games, skateboards and teddy bears.
Donna Dougtry of Snowflake, Va., remembers coming to see Santa’s train as a child at nearby Fort Blackmore.
“Years ago, we didn’t get much,” she said. “So that’s what we got at the time, and we were proud of it. It meant a lot to us.”
Over the years, her children have occasionally received handmade gifts from the Santa train, such as crocheted hats, which they still keep and cherish.
Although it’s easier for people in these isolated, rural communities to buy Christmas presents these days, Dougherty made the short trip to Fort Blackmore with her niece on Saturday, continuing a family tradition she’s glad she can still share.
“It’s really nice that they do that,” she said. “It shows the true Christmas spirit.”
CSX employees consider it an honor to be selected to staff the Santa Train as volunteers. Jesse Hensley has been trying to get a place for 35 years, ever since he met his wife, Angie, who grew up on the Santa Train in St. Paul, Virginia.
“It was so exciting when we heard that whistle,” she recalled. “When I was a little girl, you had dreams. My dream was to get on this train. I never thought in my life I would get there.”
The couple were chosen to ride the train this year because they volunteered countless hours after the floods caused it Hurricane Helen Destroyed their community Irwin, Tennesseewhere Jesse Hensley works as a machinist at CSX.
The Santa Train doesn’t run to Irwin, but CSX added a special event this year to bring cheer to the community. Residents were invited to a holiday party with food, music and gifts at the Railroad Yard in Irwin. Santa paid a visit aboard the train with cars decorated with lights forming patterns of ornaments, animated jingle bells, marching toy soldiers, and the words “Holiday Express” in giant red letters.
Two days later, Angie Hensley was smiling on the Santa train and just as excited as the children she helped hand out toys to, including grandchildren and nephews in St. Paul. She said the joy of helping with Santa’s train was better than she imagined.
Her fellow volunteers included CSX President and CEO Joe Hinrichs, who dropped off at each stop, handing out toys and talking to those who came to see the train. Henrix’s best memory so far was when she stopped two years ago when a family brought a disabled child but was dangling from the train to avoid fighting the crowds. Helpers cleared the way to bring the boy to the front and gave him a giant teddy bear they had saved for a special occasion.
“We brought him in there, everyone rallied around him, and we gave it to him. There wasn’t a dry eye anywhere,” Henricks said. “It was a magical moment.”
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