KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WTVF) — We love a seasonal tradition, and this is certainly a grand one. The Saturday before Thanksgiving has long been a favorite day of many along a three-state route. This year carries a special importance.
There's some history in a journey through crisp mountain air, stopping in communities where crowds of people patiently wait. Someone out there was happy to tell you some history from a little while back.
"I've been coming forever, just to see the people and the train," said Ann Counts, standing beside a crowd. "I came for the first time in 1947, and I can tell you what I got that year too. I got a book that had 48 states in it, started with Alabama and went all the way through. That's how I learned all the states and capitals."
This is a yearly event by CSX called Santa Train.
"Santa look about the same as you remember him?" I asked Ann about that 1947 stop.
"I can't remember!" she laughed.
Ann's first Santa Train was a stop in Fremont, Virginia.
"It was something new and different and exciting," she remembered. "We were just happy to get some hard candy!"
Santa Train has long made stops in communities with names like Haysi, Dante, and Fort Blackmore. It travels 110 miles through Appalachian areas of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. What's handed out is 15 tons of items, things like winter clothes, backpacks, and toys.
"Do you have a name for your horsey?" I asked a little girl about her stuffed toy.
"Uh, kitty!" she said.
"You named the horsey kitty?" her mom asked.
"Yeah!"
Something interesting was that even when we weren't at one of the stops, we'd see people out, just waiting to watch the Santa Train go by. CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs said Santa Train has grown into that much of a yearly tradition for people.
"This is the 82nd running of the CSX Santa Train," he explained. "Started as the Santa Claus Special on the Clinchfield in 1943. It's just an environment where we can bring some holiday spirit, holiday cheer to so many people in Appalachia. There's 150 or so people on the train. Everybody has assignments. We got 10, 15 minutes at each stop.
There's an added importance to the journey this year. Many of the people in communities on the stops and in the surrounding ones have experienced effects of Hurricane Helene; damage, flooding, power outages.
"That joy of seeing Santa, every child deserves that, especially when their family has been through something like Hurricane Helene," said Hinrichs.
As for Ann, she's sharing a day she loved as a child.
"Hey, I'm her granddaughter, Beth," a woman said, walking up to stand next to Ann. "This is her great granddaughter Emma and her other great granddaughter Georgia. [Ann] brought me when I was little."
Of course, Ann has every intention of bringing her great granddaughters back to the next Santa Train. This is a tradition she's cherished since her first hard candy Christmas.
"She'll be 90 in April!" Beth said about her grandmother.
"It's just great," Ann said. "It's fun. Got a big crowd today, more than we usually see. Just everybody comes to see the Santa Train."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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-Carrie Sharp
