(The following story by James Dornbrook appeared on The Blue Springs Examiner website on December 20.)
BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. — A horn blows in the distance. A crowd of hundreds buzzes with excitement as the ground rumbles from the engine of a train headed toward Blue Springs.
Cheers, laughter and applause fill the air as little children jump for joy to see a jolly old elf waving from a sleigh perched atop a railroad car. Santa has arrived in Blue Springs.
He pulled into town Saturday night on the Holiday Express, a special train created by the Kansas City Southern Railroad. He was on an eight-state, 29-city tour that started in Shreveport, La., and ended at Union Station in Kansas City on Sunday.
Doniele Kane, director of corporate communication for K.C. Southern, estimated that Santa visited about 40,000 people during the trip. This was the fourth year of the event and every year the crowds grow larger.
The train cars were rusted out hulks about five years ago, but railroad employees volunteered about 8,000 hours of time to refurbish and decorate them. Then they raised money and went on tour. This year they donated about $80,000 in Wal-Mart gift certificates to the Salvation Army in cities all along the tour.
Major Joseph Wheeler of the Salvation Army in Eastern Jackson County said they would use the gift certificates to buy warm clothes for people in need.
“At this time of year when warmth is so important, we are so pleased to receive these gifts,” Wheeler said.
The event in Blue Springs was free and drew hundreds of people. Once people visited Santa in the caboose, they toured the other cars, which had electric trains, mechanical snow men, a full-fledged toy shop and other goodies.
A group of Girl Scouts from Blue Springs were in the crowd touring the train.
“I liked the toy shop the best, because there were lots of dolls in there,” said Dezaray Asbury, one of the Scouts.
Kadie Sparks said she also liked the toy factory, but Kelsey Sparks said she liked seeing Santa best of all. They were joined by McKensie Albers and Alyson Hartmann, who offered an opinion on how much work must occur in Santa’s toy shop.
“I think Santa must have about 100 elves to make all those toys,” Hartmann said.
Kadie Sparks thought it was more like about 15 elves.
After touring the train, there were lots of other activities available. There were train rides, Christmas carols, some reindeer to look at, games and collection points for various charities. The Blue Springs Main Street Merchants Committee sponsored the event.