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73rd Clinchfield (CSX) Santa Claus Special - was this the last run?


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#1 CNJRoss

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Posted 26 November 2015 - 10:11 AM

Trains magazine newswire, 11/25:

 

History and heritage merge with CSX Santa Train w/GALLERY

 

It’s nearly 6 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 27, 1943 at Elkhorn City, Ky. — a junction between the Clinchfield Railroad and the Chesapeake & Ohio’s Big Sandy Division deep within the hills and hollows of central Appalachia. The daily southbound Clinchfield Railroad passenger train, number 38, is standing at the joint C&O-CRR passenger station near the small business district to board last minute passengers, mail and express. It’s still well over an hour before the winter sun will slowly rise above the mountains. The haze of coal smoke from the stack of Pacific 151 occasionally drifts across the beam from the engine’s headlight as the “ka-thump-ka-thump-ka-thump” of the Westinghouse cross compound air pump cycles periodically to keep the main reservoir charged.

With the little hand on the “6,” the instant the big hand on the conductor’s Elgin B.W. Raymond railroad-approved pocket watch sweeps to “12,” he steps onto the platform until he can see the engineer. His raised hand means one thing: “highball”! Two blasts on 151’s whistle, and 38 gets underway for her all-day trip to Spartanburg, S.C. It’s a daily occurrence at Elkhorn but as the marker lights of office car 1 recede into the darkness, there’s a passenger on the platform who is anything but routine. A bearded man in a red velvet suit and hat with white fur trim waves to those left standing at the depot as the Pacific’s exhaust picks up cadence. “M-e-e-e-erry Christmas!” A tradition is born.

 

SNIP

 

What began in 1943 as an act of generosity to the people of the Virginia coalfield region served by the Clinchfield Railroad slowly morphed into a tradition of Christmas spirit—and an annual operation that gained international recognition and acclaim. “The World’s Longest Christmas Parade” is making its 73rd trip through the mountains this year, but with CSX’s recent decision to close its yard and shop facilities at Erwin — the old Clinchfield Railroad’s headquarters — and ending through rail service, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over this year’s train. Is this the last ride over the Clinchfield for Santa? Let’s hope not.

 

More here.



#2 CNJRoss

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Posted 25 December 2015 - 10:46 PM

CSX Video:  Santa Train 2015 (2:42)






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