DENVER — Santa Claus Train, which brought Christmas cheer to scores of remote rural communities for the past 13 years, isn’t making its appointed rounds this season, and some folks are bitterly disappointed, the Denver Post reported.
“You are not hurting adults; you are hurting kids. I’m not sure all kids get to go visit Santa” without the train, said Bob Long, principal of the grade school in the remote northeastern town of Peetz, population about 190.
Operated by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, the special, gaily decorated, brightly lit train stopped in 72 communities in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and South Dakota, permitting youngsters to have a private chat with the white-bearded man in the red suit, enjoy the sights and get some free candy.
It was canceled this year after the railroad informed volunteer train crews, all of whom are railroad employees, that the company wasn’t going to pay their salaries or pick up the cost of food and lodging anymore, said railroad spokesman Steve Forsberg.
“There are some indications (some of the regular volunteers) didn’t know about it soon enough and didn’t have a chance to consider,” whether to give up their paychecks and pick up their own expenses, Forsberg said. He repeatedly declined a request by The Denver Post to speak to some of the volunteers.
Forsberg declined to estimate what the line spent on wages, expenses and operating expenses for the Santa train, whose rounds usually took 11 to 14 days.
He left the door open to resuming service in the future — if enough volunteers are ready to give up salaries just before Christmas and meet their own expenses.
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe operates one of the largest railroad networks in North America, with 33,000 route miles covering 28 states and two Canadian provinces.
“I was disappointed,” said Long of Peetz, recalling the many hours he’d spent over the years waiting for Burlington freight and coal trains to rumble through town.
Several towns said they didn’t learn the train wasn’t coming until they asked the railroad.
Traditionally, the train’s visit brought small communities together to visit, share hot cider, hot chocolate, popcorn and other snacks as kids of all ages gawked at the decorated engine, flat car and caboose while youngsters confided in Santa Claus.
“The population of my native town of Hazard, Neb., approximately 70, would more than double – if not triple – when the Santa train made its regular stop,” former resident Steve Capellen said.
“Santa and the elves were far better than any found in shopping malls. Thus we are very saddened to hear it would not be coming,” Capellen added.
“We always got a call when it left Haigler, Neb. Then we’d let the local radio station know it was coming,” and it would notify the community, recalled Kateri Reeves of the Wray Chamber of Commerce.
“It always rolled into town tooting its horn to ‘Jingle Bells.”‘
The train’s visit “was a big thing here in a little town,” added Jim Raymond of Akron. “It usually came in about the 12th of December and about 300 people would turn out.” The Lions Club and Chamber of Commerce helped Raymond, who worked for the railroad for 40 years before retiring this year, get snacks and hot drinks organized.
“This is kind of sad. We know it is done by volunteers and I’m sure the kids will miss it,” added Helena Shea of the Sterling Chamber of Commerce. “There would usually be quite a turnout, with kids lining up for three or four hours” for their turn with Santa.
Sterling was one of several towns in northeastern Colorado that would welcome Santa at trackside, drive him around town in an old-fashioned fire truck and then bring him back to the chamber to visit.
Youngsters of all ages were welcomed aboard the train to see the lights.
In addition to stops in the Colorado communities of Sterling, Peetz, Akron, Otis, Yuma and Wray the train’s regular stops included the Nebraska towns of Broken Bow, Antioch, Crete, Cambridge and Trenton; Edgemont, S.D.; and Rozet, Arvada, Upton and Sheridan in Wyoming.
Some along the route knew the annual rail visit was in danger, because “for several years the volunteers urged us to write letters to the railroad to keep it going,” recalled Ron Haverland of Otis.
“We do miss it,” said Haverland, one of about 500 people living in the small ranching town. “We’d have our grandkids, and sometimes we’d go see it again down the track in Akron. It was really pretty to watch it in late afternoon light.”
In California, the railroad’s employees volunteered their time for a three-day Santa train that transported 800 children from various hospitals and foundations earlier this month, Forsberg said.
Other railroad employees volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, he added.