CLEVELAND, December 3 — Spreading good will and holiday cheer, Santa Claus made his annual visit to Appalachia the weekend of November 22. But he swapped his sleigh and reindeer for a ride on a CSX train.
With a little help from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and hundreds of volunteers, Santa delivered 18 tons of gifts, candy and food to those in need as part of the 66th annual CSX Santa Claus Special.
BLET Locomotive Engineer Allen Hughes, a member of Division 781 in Erwin, Tenn., was behind the throttle of the Santa Train as it wound its way along the 110-mile route through the rural mountain communities of eastern Kentucky, western Virginia and northeast Tennessee.
Brother Hughes piloted the Santa Train without a hitch and kept everyone safe and on schedule. It was his first time operating the Santa Train.
Hughes began railroading in 1996 and earned promotion to locomotive engineer in 1998. He holds a regular yard assignment in Kingsport, Tenn., but is intricately familiar with the Santa Train route from Pikeville, Ky., to Kingsport, Tenn. He held down a regular run on that territory for eight years prior to taking his current yard assignment.
The Santa Train is one of Appalachia’s most anticipated holiday traditions, especially this year since the economy has hit that portion of Appalachia so hard.
“The coal mines closed down and there’s not much work there,” Hughes said. “But it was rewarding to get to do something nice for the kids. There were great crowds this year and lots of kids. There were record turn outs at some of the stops.”
Goods, gifts and merchandise came in from 39 states for the Santa Train effort. There were 18 tons of gifts, candy and food provided, and more than 5,000 gift bags were distributed at 14 stops along the route.
The Santa Train is sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce in Kingsport, Tenn., CSX Transportation Inc., and Food City Grocers of Abingdon, Va.
Next to Santa, the biggest celebrity on the train was country singer Kathy Mattea. She said her new CD “Coal” describes the hardships that many miners face in the mountains. It was inspired by the 2006 mining disaster in Sago, W.Va., that killed 12 miners.
Many of the songs on the album reflect the experiences of Mattea’s own family. Both of her grandfathers were coal miners and her parents grew up in coal camps.
Mattea, 49, is a two-time Grammy winner who has four No. 1 country hits to her credit, including “Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses.”
For Brother Hughes, the Santa Train experience was about giving back and helping those in need. But his most rewarding memory came at the end of the run. Brother Hughes’ wife, Lee, brought their seven year old son, Allen Jr., to Kingsport to see his dad pull the Santa Train into town.
“He was so excited,” Hughes said. “He liked it a lot.”
(With reporting from the Associated Press.)
For a photo gallery of holiday trains, including the CSX Santa Claus Special, visit the BLET website:
https://www.ble-t.org