(AP) — Since 1943, the people of Appalachian Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee have looked forward to Santa's arrival. Not in a sleigh on their rooftops, but on a train.
The Santa Train marks its 82nd running this year, bringing presents and joy to small towns along a 110-mile portion of the CSX rail line tucked into remote coal-country river valleys. Many of the children who line the tracks and wait for Santa on the Saturday before Thanksgiving are the third, fourth or fifth generation to do so.
"I look for it every year. I count the days down," said Sandra Owens, of Haysi, Virginia, who held a pink pillowcase with a message in black ink, "Thank you CSX and volunteers for the Santa Train. 82."
Owens moved to Kentucky from Delaware 55 years ago when she got married and experienced her first Santa Train a few years later, when her son turned 3. He is 46 now, and these days she brings her grandchildren. In a few more years, she hopes to bring great-grandchildren.
"The faces of the kids, that's what makes me happy," she said. "You can't see anything better."
The train starts out in Shelbiana, Kentucky, where families wait in the pre-dawn. At each stop there are dozens to hundreds of people. Many crowd around the back of the train, where Santa and his helpers toss stuffed animals. Meanwhile, groups of volunteer "elves" carrying bags full of gifts fan out, making sure every child goes home with something. Each year they hand out more than 15 tons of gifts that include hats, mittens and fuzzy blankets along with board games, skate boards and teddy bears.
Donna Doughetry from Snowflake, Virginia, remembers coming to see the Santa Train as a child in nearby Fort Blackmore.
"Years back, we didn't get a lot," she said. "So back then this was kind of what we got, and we were proud of it. It meant a lot to us."
Over the years, her kids have at times received handmade gifts from the Santa Train, like crocheted hats, which they still have and cherish.
Even though it is easier for people in these isolated, rural communities to buy Christmas presents these days, Dougherty made the short trek to Fort Blackmore with her niece on Saturday, carrying on the family tradition that she is glad she can still share.
"It's really nice that they do this," she said. "It shows the true Christmas spirit."
CSX employees consider it an honor to be chosen to staff the Santa Train as volunteers. Jesse Hensley had been trying to get a spot for 35 years, ever since he met his wife, Angie, who grew up with the Santa Train in St. Paul, Virginia.
"It was such a thrill when we heard that whistle blow," she remembered. "When I was a little girl, you know, you have dreams. My dream was to ride that train. Never in my life did I ever think that I would get to."
The pair was selected to ride the train this year because they volunteered countless hours after the flooding caused by Hurricane Helene devastated their community of Erwin, Tennessee, where Jesse Hensley works as a machinist mechanic for CSX.
The Santa Train doesn't run to Erwin, but CSX added a special event this year to bring cheer to the community. Residents were invited to a holiday party with food, music, and gifts in the Erwin rail yard. Santa paid a visit on train with cars decked out in lights forming the shapes of ornaments, moving jingle bells, marching toy soldiers, and the words "Holiday Express" in giant red letters.
Two days later, Angie Hensley was all smiles on the Santa Train and nearly as excited as the children she helped distribute toys to, including grandnieces and grandnephews in St. Paul. The joy of helping on the Santa Train was even better than she had imagined, she said.
Her fellow volunteers included CSX President and CEO Joe Hinrichs, who got off at every stop, handing out toys and talking to those who had come to see the train. Hinrichs' best memory so far was at a stop a couple of years ago when a family brought a disabled child but were hanging back from the train to avoid the tussle of the crowd. Helpers cleared a path to bring the boy forward and gave him a giant teddy bear they had saved for a special occasion.
"We brought it out there, and everybody got around it, and we gave it to him. And there wasn't a dry eye anywhere," Hinrichs said. "It was a magical moment."
