SANTA PAULA, Calif. — Sierra Northern Railway, partnering with nonprofit Operation Toy Train, ran a pair of Santa trains Saturday, Dec. 7, on its Ventura Division between Ventura and Piru, about 30 miles.
The first train, consisting of Genset locomotive No. 2666, an open-air car, and heavyweight business car No. 409, left Ventura at 10:30 a.m., arriving in Santa Paula just after noon. Dave Wilkinson owns the four-axle business car.
With the railroad still split from the 2023 washout of the Sespe Creek Bridge near Fillmore, Calif., a second train operated from Fillmore to Piru, Calif. That train ran with another Genset unit, a pair of baggage cars, and a former Santa Fe caboose. More than 650 toys were collected.
This was the first year Sierra Northern partnered with Operation Toy Train, a New York non-profit organization, which runs a series of annual holiday-season toy collection trains across the United States, with operations this year in five states [see “Operation Toy Train announces expanded schedule …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 2, 2024]. Each year, the trains collect over 35,000 donated toys for the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation and other local civic organizations, all of which redistribute the toys to underprivileged children within the collection areas. The trains comprise one of the largest Toys for Tots campaigns in the United States.
“Sierra Northern was excited to be Operation Toy Train’s first West Coast operation and we look forward to many more years of collaboration,” said Matt Blackburn, the railroad’s division manager.
