There are cool train rides this holiday season from coast-to-coast, but plan ahead for the most popular events.
The holiday season begins early for many heritage railroads, museums, and tourist train operators. On some lines there is only a short transition from the end of autumn Oktoberfests, pumpkin patches, and spooky trains to the start of Winter holiday excursions.
The 2024 holiday schedule is a long one for railroads staging licensed high-energy productions, such as Polar Express — adapted from the ever-popular Chris Van Allsburg story — with rehearsals and marketing efforts that begin many months before the first tickets are sold.
Plan early for holiday fun
As of this writing in early September, many lines have holiday excursion tickets for sale online, but some popular trains and busy days have already sold out. The steam-hauled Connecticut’s Valley Railroad offers North Pole Express trips with tickets only available online with no walk-up sales. If this is on your Christmas list, please plan your booking early. A few years ago, I visited the Valley to soak in the spirit of the holiday watching happy passengers board the train in the evening dusk, and listening to the locomotive bell tolling as it pulled away from the platform in a waft of steam colored by the holiday lights.
Many of the Polar Express licensees begin operations in mid-November. North Carolina’s Great Smoky Mountains Railroad runs its Polar Express train rides from Nov. 7 through New Year’s Eve, with trains boarding at the Bryson City Depot; California State Railroad Museum offers its interpretation of this experience from Nov. 16 through Dec. 22, with trains boarding on the Old Sacramento Waterfront at the Central Pacific Depot; and Texas State Railroad Museum runs Nov. 15 through Dec. 28, departing from its Palestine Depot.
Santa on track
On the busiest holiday railroads, Santa will be doing double duty and getting a real workout. By the time he loads up his sleigh on Christmas Eve, he’ll be well into the holiday overtime hours — Santa’s not subject to the FRA’s hours of service rules.
Pennsylvania’s Strasburg Rail Road has four distinct seasonal offerings, which employ a variety of vintage passenger cars. Santa’s Paradise Express offers the classic Santa train experience. It’s ideal for young visitors and first time train riders. The train includes a visit with the bearded man in the red suit and Mrs. Claus, and the opportunity to send a wish list using the North Pole Express Mailbox at the East Strasburg station.
Mature travelers may want to book a premium seat on the Night Before Christmas. This provides a great opportunity to travel on the President’s Car, the railroad’s one-of-a- kind former Reading Company Edwardian-era executive observation car, where you can briefly experience fine holiday travel for a reasonable price.
While visiting eastern Pennsylvania there are plenty of other holiday trains in the neighborhood. Steamtown in Scranton hosts The Iron Horse Society’s North Pole Limited, an affordable hour-long excursion from the Scranton Yards to Nay Aug Park using the former Baldwin Locomotive Works 0-6-0 No. 26.
Northern Central Railway of York operates diesel excursions on the former Pennsylvania Railroad Northern Central route from New Freedom. It runs weekend Christmas Elves Express trains from Nov. 29 through Dec. 22. These pass through the town of Railroad, Pa.
Nearby is the Stewartstown Railroad, a quaint and somewhat elusive tourist railway. It runs short weekend Santa Claus Express excursions from the station in its namesake village.
A visit to the Illinois Railway Museum is in order if you’d like to sample the 40-minute Happy Holiday Railway, where Santa rides the train and the ticket price includes an electric trolley ride. Equipment and buildings will be lit with holiday lights. This event runs on select dates from Nov. 29 through Dec. 23, from the East Union Depot.
Christmas begins on Colorado’s Georgetown Loop on Nov. 8 with two offerings; the 1 hour, 15 minute Santa’s Rocky Mountain Adventure; and the nocturnal Santa’s Lighted Forest that features the display of some 300,000 lights. Santa, of course, makes an appearance on every train. Consider an upscale holiday experience and travel aboard the Waldorf Presidential Club car or one of the railroad’s other elegant parlor/club cars.
After Christmas, the railroad fields its Victorian Holiday Celebration featuring Ebenezer Scrooge rather than Santa, who will, by then, certainly be needing a holiday of his own. Trains depart from Georgetown Devil’s Gate.
For a more complete listing of holiday train events, please check out, “Holiday trains & ‘Polar Express Train Rides’ (2024).”
