KINGSPORT, Tenn. — For the second straight year, there will be no CSX Santa Train in the southern Appalachian mountains.
Instead, organizers will hold drive-through distribution of gifts at four locations.
The train had run for 77 years until it was replaced by the drive-through distribution last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic [see “CSX Santa Train will not run this year,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 13, 2020]. Ongoing COVID-19 concerns will sideline the train again this year, the Kingsport Times News reports.
“Planning the Santa Train takes several months, so the decision to hold our drive-thru gift event was made out of an abundance of caution in light of ongoing concerns about COVID-19,” Bryan Tucker, vice president of Corporate Communications at CSX, told the newspaper.
Instead of the 110-mile train trip, Santa Train team members will distribute gifts from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Nov. 20 at four Food City locations: Shelbiana, Clintwood, St. Paul, and Weber City. Last year, backpacks were distributed with winter accessories and toys donated by the First Responders Children’s Foundation.
The railroad, Kingsport Chamber of Commerce, grocery chain Food City, Appalachian Power, and Nashville non-profit organization Soles4Souls are involved in the train’s charity effort.
The Kingsport Chamber and Clinchfield Railroad launched the Santa Train tradition in 1943. It most recently has featured a train pulled by CSX’s F40PH2 executive train locomotives, but in the past has featured such notable power as a restored Clinchfield F7 and SD45, Union Pacific Challenger No. 3985 (rebadged as “Clinchfield No. 676”) and other steam power.
My suspicion is that it will never run again. It took a pandemic to end its history.