(Source: Kansas City Southern press release, December 19, 2022)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Southern (KCS) announced today that the 22nd KCS Holiday Express program raised over $215,000 to benefit The Salvation Army in 20 communities in eight states where the KCS Holiday Express train stopped this year. In addition, after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, almost 48,000 visitors were welcomed to the train in free public events.
Special thanks to the major sponsors to date, including Bartlett, a Savage Company; Deanne Porter and Patrick Ottensmeyer Family Foundation; Haverty Family Foundation; Husch Blackwell; Kansas City Southern Historical Society; KingdomBuilding Leadership, Inc.; Precision Waste Solutions; RailPros; The Kansas City Southern Charitable Fund; Virginia Vollrath Hertenstein; Watco; and ZA Construction.
Over 22 years, the KCS Holiday Express project has raised over $3.1 million, which was donated to The Salvation Army. KCS Holiday Express was built on the tradition of the Santa Train, which ran on a segment of the network bought by KCS in 1997. In 2000, a group of warm-hearted employees noticed that the Santa Train was the only Christmas some kids had, and that some kids did not have essential items like coats, hats and gloves, so they committed to elevating the project. In 2001, volunteers transformed a retired freight train to the KCS Holiday Express experience that thousands of people enjoy today.
In the first 19 years, the KCS Holiday Express train stopped in 20 or more communities in five or six states between Thanksgiving and Christmas. At each stop, visitors could board the train, meet Santa and his elves and tour the inside of three cars of the festive six-car train. These events returned in 2022 after not occurring the previous two years. The KCS Holiday Express is free to the public at all stops.