Lanterns & Ledgers

Category: General

  • Beyond the Polar Express: How Heritage Railroads Are Reinventing Holiday Magic

    Beyond the Polar Express: How Heritage Railroads Are Reinventing Holiday Magic

    The Polar Express is everywhere. With 1.8 million guests riding 58 partner railroads in 2024, it’s the 800-pound reindeer in the room for heritage rail.

    But here’s what the franchise doesn’t tell you: some of the most creative, beloved holiday train experiences in America have nothing to do with that golden ticket.

    And they’re thriving.

    The Economics of Breaking Free

    Running a Polar Express costs serious money. Rail Events Inc. charges a $10,000 annual fee plus 8-30% of ticket gross, with additional merchandise royalties up to 10%. For smaller heritage operations, that math gets painful fast.

    So railroads got creative.

    Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad in Ohio ditched their long-running Polar Express for North Pole Adventure, an original production with nine uniquely themed cars. Mrs. Claus’ Kitchen. Candy Cane Lane. Inside the Tree. Each car is its own immersive world. No licensing fees. No franchise restrictions. Just 90 minutes of pure imagination rolling through a national park.

    Verde Canyon Railroad near Sedona created The Magical Christmas Journey with their own storybook, their own characters, and a real bald eagle from Arizona’s Liberty Wildlife greeting kids at the depot. Children wear eagle wings and “fly” through miniature houses before arriving at a North Pole village complete with Reindeer Flight School and (my personal favorite) the Naughty Kids’ Coal Mine.

    Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s North Pole Limited has been running independently since 1999. Twenty-five years of tradition, built without a franchise. The money they save on licensing? It goes right back into expanded programming.

    Theatrical Excellence Sets the Bar

    Essex Steam Train’s North Pole Express might be the gold standard. Over 70,000 riders in 2022. Professional performers dancing down the aisle of every car during live musical productions. Tickets sell out within days.

    Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds booked an entire car for their family. That’s the kind of reputation you build when you invest in quality over brand recognition.

    Pennsylvania’s Strasburg Rail Road has offered Christmas trains for over 65 years. Their Night Before Christmas Train features dramatic readings in authentic Victorian coaches heated by real pot-bellied stoves. No movie tie-in needed when you have 19th-century atmosphere that franchise operations can only dream about.

    Adults Want In Too

    Here’s where it gets interesting for operators thinking about market segmentation.

    Adults-only holiday trains are the fastest-growing segment in heritage rail. Wisconsin Great Northern adds Holiday Wine Train cars to their Santa runs. Black Hills Central Railroad’s 1880 Train offers “Spiked!” cars with craft beer tastings.

    Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum gets it. Beyond their flagship North Pole Limited, they offer Christmas Tea, Christmas Dinner Train, Christmas Lunch Train, and Nightcap with St. Nick for the 21+ crowd. That’s five distinct products serving different audiences from the same equipment.

    Murder mystery trains take it further. Florida’s Seminole Gulf Railway runs “Holiday Havoc,” a Christmas-themed whodunit with a five-course meal. Three and a half hours of noir intrigue crossing the Caloosahatchee River. Not exactly what Chris Van Allsburg had in mind, but it fills seats.

    Why This Matters for Your Bottom Line

    Holiday trains typically generate 40-60% of annual operating revenue for heritage railroads. That’s not a nice-to-have. That’s survival money.

    The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad’s 2025 Polar Express season? Sold out. They’re already selling 2026 tickets. Demand isn’t the problem.

    But here’s the thing: families return to Essex Steam Train and Verde Canyon and Tennessee Valley not because of a movie they saw once. They return because those experiences exist nowhere else. Original storytelling. Live entertainment. Local character.

    You can’t replicate “professional carolers in a Victorian coach heated by a pot-bellied stove” with a licensing agreement.

    The Takeaway

    The Polar Express works. I’m not here to trash it. For many railroads, that franchise provides a proven template and built-in marketing.

    But the heritage operations doing the most interesting work have figured out something important: your greatest competitive advantage is being irreplaceable.

    Nevada Northern Railway in Ely lets you smell coal smoke and creosote while riding through sagebrush valleys in equipment from 1910. The Skunk Train takes you through redwood forests to see a decorated giant sequoia. Essex Steam Train turns every coach into a Broadway stage.

    No franchise can deliver that. Only you can.

    The families who ride your trains this December? They’re not comparing you to a movie. They’re building memories that will bring their own children back someday.

    That’s worth more than any golden ticket.

  • When the Rails Bring Hope Home

    When the Rails Bring Hope Home

    Every November, families in places like Dante, Virginia gather at railroad crossings before dawn, waiting in the cold. Kids strain to hear a distant whistle. Then it appears through the mist: a locomotive decorated with lights, loaded with 15 tons of toys, clothing, and hope.

    That’s the CSX Santa Train. It’s been running for 83 years. And it’s not alone.

    Across North America, railroad holiday trains have quietly become something remarkable. The CSX Santa Train and CPKC Holiday Train have collectively raised over $26 million and delivered millions of pounds of food and toys to communities that often get overlooked. These aren’t just corporate PR stunts. They’re living proof that the same rails that built small-town America still connect us.

    The Santa Train started as a thank-you, not charity

    In 1943, Kingsport, Tennessee businessmen wanted to thank the coal miners along the Clinchfield Railroad. Their families were fueling the war effort. The “Santa Claus Special” wasn’t meant as a handout. It was gratitude.

    Joe Higgins was the first Santa. His wife hand-sewed a red corduroy suit with real fur. He went to “Santa School” in Pennsylvania. When he retired, John Dudney wore the suit for 38 consecutive years.

    Today the train travels 110 miles from Shelby, Kentucky to Kingsport, making 14 stops through 29 communities. The role of Santa has changed hands only four times in 83 years. Charlotte Nickels, a retired teacher from Dungannon, Virginia, hasn’t missed seeing the train since its first run in 1943.

    The CPKC Holiday Train feeds a continent

    While the Santa Train serves Appalachia, the CPKC Holiday Train reaches across two countries. It started in 1999 when Canadian Pacific asked employees what charitable cause mattered most. The answer was hunger.

    Now two trains run simultaneously through Canada and the U.S., visiting nearly 200 communities across seven provinces and thirteen states. They’ve raised more than $26 million and collected 5.4 million pounds of food. In 2023 alone: $1.8 million and 160,000 pounds.

    What makes it distinctive is the concert stage. A modified boxcar opens to reveal a platform where artists like Sheryl Crow, the Barenaked Ladies, and KT Tunstall perform free shows. Every donation stays in that community.

    There’s an entire ecosystem of these trains

    Operation Toy Train has collected over 380,000 toys across the Northeast over 17 years. The Indiana Rail Road Santa Train has distributed free winter coats since 1989. Caltrain’s Holiday Train draws 35,000 people annually to Silicon Valley with 75,000 lights and Toys for Tots donations. The Cameron Christmas Train launched in November 2024 as a partnership between Cameron Health, the Indiana Northeastern Railroad, and the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society.

    Heritage railroads have gotten in on it too. The Steam Railroading Institute runs Pere Marquette 1225, the actual locomotive that inspired The Polar Express. Author Chris Van Allsburg played on it as a kid. The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad donates $5 from every ticket to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank.

    Why this matters beyond the gifts

    Railroads literally built rural America. Where they installed water towers and cattle pens, general stores followed, then churches and schools. Entire communities sprouted along the tracks.

    That’s why holiday trains carry such weight in places where isolation is still real. When a decorated train rolls through, it says: you haven’t been forgotten.

    Former CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs put it plainly: “This really embodies our history. Coal is still important, but it’s declined over time. Now it’s about making sure these communities don’t get lost.”

    Jessica Laws from Dante, Virginia is more direct: “It’s tradition. Got to do it. If you’re from here, this is part of the year.”

    What stays with you

    Angie Hensley grew up in St. Paul, Virginia watching the Santa Train pass. “It was such a thrill when we heard that whistle blow. My dream was to ride that train. Never in my life did I ever think I would get to.”

    In 2024, after she and her husband volunteered during Hurricane Helene recovery, they were invited to ride. A lifetime of waiting, fulfilled.

    That’s what these trains do. They arrive, and communities gather. Not through screens. In person, in the cold, at crossings.

    The same infrastructure that carries freight was built through these communities. When a decorated train returns bearing gifts, it acknowledges that connection. Corporate success and community wellbeing have always been intertwined.

    The trains keep coming. The communities keep gathering. Because the whistle still calls us home.

    See you trackside.

    Sources:

    CSX Santa Train

    CPKC Holiday Train

    Operation Toy Train

    Indiana Rail Road Santa Train

    Caltrain Holiday Train

    Cameron Christmas Train

    Pere Marquette 1225 / Heritage Railroads

    Background / Rural Communities

  • Welcome to Lanterns & Ledgers

    A lantern in one hand and a spreadsheet in the other. That’s heritage rail the way I’ve lived it. Grease on your knuckles, coffee cooling on the a toolbox stand, and a board meeting at 7 where someone will absolutely ask “Where is that email?” This blog is where those worlds meet.

    I run operations, wrangle volunteers, chase grants, and try to keep old iron safe, solvent, and actually moving. I’ve made good calls and dumb ones. I’ve seen tiny choices snowball into big wins, and I’ve watched “great ideas” die on the shoals of reality. I want to talk about all of it.

    This is a blog about the people side of heritage rail. Not perfect paint jobs. People. The conductor who keeps a scared kid calm. The volunteer who quietly fixes the same problem every Saturday because no one else noticed. The city employee who unlocks a door you didn’t know existed. The donor who believes before there’s anything to show. This is where we learn how to take care of those folks and the communities we serve.

    Here’s what you’ll find here:

    1. Stories from the shop, cab, depot, and board room. Wins, misses, and what we learned.
    2. Playbooks you can steal. Checklists, training ideas, policies, email templates, event run-of-show, and “here’s how we actually did it.”
    3. Safety and compliance made human. FRA and OSHA without the migraine.
    4. Volunteer culture and staffing. Recruiting, retaining, coaching, and keeping it fun.
    5. Customer experience that isn’t cheesy. Tickets, boarding, ADA realities, and “how to make memories on purpose.”
    6. Partnerships and politics. Cities, railroads, museums, chambers, and how to talk to them like adults.
    7. Money conversations that are honest. Not spreadsheets for show. Real choices, tradeoffs, and why “break even” isn’t a strategy.

    Who’s this for? If you’re the kind of person who shows up early, stays late, and still texts “we could try this” on the drive home, this is your spot. If you’re a board member trying to figure out what questions to ask, welcome. If you’re a volunteer who wants to grow into a new role, let’s go. If you’re just rail-curious and care about small towns and big stories, climb aboard.

    What this is not: a rumor mill, a teardown zone, or a place where we pretend the hard parts aren’t hard. We’ll be candid and kind. We’ll give credit. We’ll protect safety and dignity. We’ll keep our eyes on impact. And yes, we’ll have some fun. Trains are supposed to be fun.

    Cadence will be a mix. Some quick notes from the road. Some deeper how-to posts you can print and use at your next meeting. Occasionally a guest voice. I’ll share photos and the messy middle, not just after-the-fact highlight reels. When I can share numbers, I will. When I can’t, I’ll share the reasoning.

    Housekeeping. Opinions here are mine. They come from years of doing the work with teams I’m proud of and communities I love. If something helps you, take it. If you try an idea and it bombs, tell me what happened so we can make it better. If you’ve got a story that taught you something the hard way, I want to hear it.

    Why Lanterns & Ledgers? Because preservation is both. Light to see the next step. Ledger to keep score honestly. Heart and head. Romance and rigor. We need both if we’re going to keep these machines alive and make them matter.

    Alright. Let’s get to work. I’ll start with a few recent lessons we had to learn twice so you don’t have to.

    See you trackside. Peace and love, y’all.