The Last Santa Train?

CSX Transportation; St. Paul, Va.; November 21, 2015

For 73 years Santa Claus has traveled the rails of the Clinchfield, Carolina & Ohio Railroad (known simply as "the Clinchfield." Traveling from Elkhorn City, Ky., to Kingsport, Tenn., (and spending most of its journey in far southwest Virginia), the Santa train has traditionally run on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, spreading cheer to Appalachia. In recent times, with the hardships of the southwest coal region, the train has been even more important in bringing Christmas to this economically challenged region of the U.S. The train has run under the banner of the Clinchfield, continued to run when the Clinchfield became a part of Seaboard System, and when CSX was formed  in 1981 the train still continued.

CSX; Pool Point, Ky.

In October 2015 CSX made the announcement that it was downgrading the Clinchfield main line (which extends from Elkhorn City to Spartanburg, S.C.). Elkhorn City to McClure, Va., would see a train serve one customer on an as-needed basis. From St. Paul, Va., to Frisco, Va., the tracks would still be used, but not by CSX -- Norfolk Southern runs trackage rights trains over this section. Customers in Kingsport would continue to be served from the south at Spartanburg. But two sections -- McClure to St. Paul and Frisco to Kingsport -- would see no more trains. To top it all off, 300 employees lost their jobs when CSX closed the Clinchfield shops at Erwin, Tenn. The Santa Train's route includes both of the sections of the railroad that will see no other trains.

I had not planned on chasing the Santa Train this year. I had chased it in 2014 and planned to go back for the 75th running in 2017. But with the sudden change in the status of the Clinchfield, I decided to do the chase again this year -- just in case. The only problem was I had a prior commitment in Lancaster, Pa., the night before. But with the possibility that the 2015 Santa Train might be the last through train on the railroad, I left Lancaster at 9:30 p.m. and did the all-night drive to Pool Point, Ky., just south of Elkhorn City. I caught up with the train as it made the spectacular crossing of a large bridge in Breaks Interstate Park at 7:45 a.m. on November 21. The train had already made two stops by this time.

After hiking out of Pool Point, I used the train's stop at Haysi, Va., to get ahead of it, setting up at the tunnel just north of the train's next stop at Clinchco, Va.

CSX Transportation; Clinchco, Va.; November 21, 2015

The train makes several stops of 15-20 minutes at various towns along the railroad. At each stop, Santa and his helpers throw tons of stuff (literally -- estimates say that 25 tons of goodies are distributed from the train) into the waiting crowds. The Kingsport Chamber of Commerce is the driving force behind the train, with a lot of help from CSX. Food City is also a major sponsor. Each year a celebrity helps Santa distribute gifts; this year it was Meghan Linsey, runner-up on the television show "The Voice."

Santa and Meghan Linsey; Clinchco, Va.; November 21, 2015

Santa stays out on the back platform of the rear observation car for the entire 110-mile trip, waving to everyone along the route. Up until a decade or so ago, gifts were thrown off to anyone standing near the tracks, but today gifts are only tossed at the designated stops. Santa was waving as the train headed towards the next stop at Fremont, Va.

CSX Transportation; Clinchco, Va.; November 21, 2015

We used the Fremont stop to get ahead of the train and set up for one of the classic shots on the Clinchfield -- passing the Union Baptist Church at Dante, Va. This is in the section that will have no more trains, so it was an important shot to get.

CSX Transportation; Dante, Va.; November 21, 2015

We caught the train again as it approached St. Paul, then ventured into the crowd again during the stop in St. Paul. Once again, an amazing amount of stuffed animals and other gifts came off the back of the train.

CSX Transportation; St. Paul, Va.; November 21, 2015

CSX; Dungannon, Va.

The train's next stop was at Dungannon, Va., and we caught the train coming into town there. This is the section of the Clinchfield that will still see Norfolk Southern trackage-rights trains.





Still on the trackage rights section, next up was Fort Blackmore, Va. A highway bridge provides a nice view of the train passing through the crowd before stopping the observation car at the designated spot so Santa can do his thing.

CSX Transportation; Fort Blackmore, Va.; November 21, 2015

CSX; Copper Creek Viaduct

From Fort Blackmore, the train heads for the scenic highlight of the entire railroad -- Copper Creek Viaduct near Clinchport, Va. A large crowd was gathered to watch the train make its crossing.

From here the tracks duck into a long tunnel while the roads take the long way around. The train had two more stops to make before arriving in Kingsport, wandering into Tennessee. Rather than follow the train around the mountain, we headed for Kingsport and set up at the Holston River bridge just outside of town. Right on schedule, just after 3:00 p.m., Santa arrived in Kingsport for the big Christmas parade in town. After cleaning and fueling, the train departed for Spartanburg and on to Jacksonville, Fla. In past years it would have gone only as far as Erwin, but that Clinchfield town is no longer used by the railroad.

So is this the last Santa Train? Is this tradition going to die just two years short of its 75th birthday? It's hard to imagine the 22 miles of track between McClure and St. Paul will be maintained by CSX for one train a year. CSX, however, has said publicly that it plans to continue the Santa Train tradition, and CSX CEO Michael Ward (who was on board the 2015 Santa Train) has said the train will continue. Still, a lot can happen between now and next year, and the shaky status of the former Clinchfield mainline makes you wonder... The Clinchfield has little in the way of online customers, especially with the downturn in the fortunes of Appalachian coal. It served primarily as a bridge line for coal traffic heading south, and those trains have all been rerouted.

My guess is if the Santa Train makes it to 2016, then it will make it at least until the 75th birthday in 2017. The next several months are critical, but sometime in the spring CSX is going to have to inform the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce on whether it will run the train in 2016. Let's hope that Santa continues to ride the Clinchfield!

CSX Transportation; Kingsport, Tenn.; November 21, 2015

Photos from this post can be purchased here.

There Goes Santa Claus

A gallery of all the photos taken this day can be found here.

Valley Railroad; Chesterbrook (Essex), Conn.; December 27, 2013

It's quite hard to find steam locomotive movements after dark for night photography with one exception -- around Christmastime several steam railroads run Polar Express, North Pole Express and/or Santa Claus trains that feature Christmas lights. The best show from a photography standpoint is perhaps the Valley Railroad in Essex, Conn. Its trains are so popular that two trainsets are needed to run four trips an evening, and two trainsets means two different steam locomotives. The trips run every night from Thanksgiving weekend until after Christmas, with this year's final trips occurring on December 29. I hadn't been able to get up to Essex this year before Christmas, but took advantage o Santa's busy schedule to get up there on December 27. The first train departed at 5:00, and I was able to get it at Old Deep River Road in the community of Chesterbrook on the fringes of Essex (above). The power on the first train was "New Haven 3025," a Chinese-built steam locomotive configured to look like one of the 2-8-2s that worked for the New York, New Haven & Hartford.

The trains head north from Essex and head to Deep River, which is decked out as the "North Pole." Santa boards here and the train continues north to Chester with hundreds of screaming delighted kids. Meanwhile, the second train departed Essex at 5:35. It took the siding at Deep River to load its Santa. Eventually, No. 3025 pushed its train back from Chester into the North Pole.

Valley Railroad; Deep River, Conn.; December 27, 2013

Once No. 3025 has pushed back into the clear, the second train -- led by 2-8-2 No. 40 -- pulled out of the North Pole for the run to Chester.

Valley Railroad; Deep River, Conn.; December 27, 2013

The entire process would be repeated at 7:00, so I headed to Essex Street outside Deep River (and just south of the North Pole) where I was joined by Tom Nanos, a local shooter who has done some great work over the years with the Santa trains. I set up my strobes in a way that the same set-up could be used for both the 7:00 and 7:35 trains but with different camera angles. I went up close for the 7:00 train with No. 3025 in the lead.

Valley Railroad; Essex, Conn.; December 27, 2013

Finally, the 7:35 train (running a bit late) headed north. For this shot I pulled back for an across-the-water shot. Often this shot has a nice reflection, but the cold weather meant the water was ice covered. After getting this shot I packed up my gear and headed back to New Jersey. There are things I would do differently, so no doubt I'll be back again next year.

Valley Railroad; Deep River, Conn.; December 27, 2013

A New York Central Christmas

All photos taken on this day can be found in Photo Lines here.

Grand Central Terminal; New York, New York; December 21, 2013

A couple of weeks ago we ventured into New York City to take a look at the Centennial Holiday Light Show at Grand Central Terminal in New York. With an unusually warm evening occurring on December 21, I headed back into Gotham for a walk around the exterior of Grand Central and a visit to the former New York Central Building (now the Helmsley Building) a couple of blocks north of GCT. First up was the beginning of the Holiday Light Show -- I had managed to get a slightly off composition of the beginning of the show last time when "GCT" was displayed in the windows, so that was remedied this time.

Grand Central Terminal; New York, New York; December 21, 2013

GCT; December 21, 2013

One the iconic images available in new York is the clock in the middle of the Terminal's concourse, and it drew some attention for a few shots before heading outdoors. All four faces of the clock are made from high-grade opal, and the clock is valued at somewhere between $10 and $20 million. If you need to meet someone in New York, meeting under the clock is probably the most famous place to do such a thing -- four generations have met here through the decades.

Helmsley Building

As I said, the evening was quite pleasant so I headed outside and walked north several blocks. The New York Central Railroad had offices next to Grand Central Terminal, and that building survives today, now known as the Helmsley Building. The impressive structure is lit throughout the year (as is Grand Central), but for the holidays it receives a red, green and blue treatment.

Grand Central was opened in 1913; the New York Central Building was built in 1929 as part of "Terminal City" and was designed by Warren & Wetmore (who also designed GCT). At 35 stories tall, the NYC Building dominated the skyline around the terminal until the construction of the Pan Am Building (now the MetLife Building, opened in 1963).

Helmsley Building; New York, New York; December 21, 2013

From there it was back to Grand Central for some exterior shots. At this point I'll wish you a Merry Christmas and leave you with a few scenes from outside Grand Central.

Grand Central Terminal; New York, New York; December 21, 2013

Grand Central Terminal; New York, New York; December 21, 2013

Grand Central Terminal; New York, New York; December 21, 2013

It's Christmastime In the City

All the photos from this trip can be found in Photo Lines here.

Grand Central Terminal; December 7, 2013

I've been traveling into Grand Central Terminal in New York a lot this year -- after all, this is the building's centennial year. I've been there to shoot exterior night shots, there for the centennial on February 1, back for the Parade of Trains in May, and probably another couple of trips. So it's only fitting as the year winds down I headed back into GCT for the final big event of the year -- the Centennial Holiday Light Show.

Naturally the best way to get into GCT is by train, and I picked a place to leave my car that was both convenient and provided a photo angle I had not tried before. So, after leaving my car on the fifth floor of the parking garage at White Plains, N.Y., I headed up to the eighth floor to shoot a northbound set of Metro North M3s in the low afternoon sun.

Metro North; White Plains, N.Y.; December 7, 2013

After shooting this I headed down to the platform to catch a southbound into the city. Despite the fact that this was a local train (which makes more stops and is much slower than the frequent express trains), the platform was fairly crowded with shoppers, sightseers and Santa's helpers heading in.

Metro North; White Plains, N.Y.; December 7, 2013

On board Metro North

Grand Central Terminal; Dec. 7, 2013

Arriving at Grand Central with a few minutes to spare before the start pf the light show, I toured the holiday sales area in Vanderbilt Hall which seemed to be a very crowded mall with really tiny stores. Then it was off to the east balcony to set up for the light show, which would be projected in the windows on the west side (top photo in this entry).

The half-hour show repeats continuously from 5:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m., so once it was underway I took advantage of a behind-the-scenes tour that was offered by a friend. In each of the windows in the arch there is a scrim with a light bar below it. These are in the walkways that go across the archways at each end of the terminal. The third floor passageway is seen in the photo above. In all, there are 350 window panes in each of the archways. As the lights change colors, they can make designs, rough pictures and even letters.

GCT; Dec. 7, 2013

Heading to the east archway, I had the chance to look out from the third floor on that side of GCT at the light show across the main concourse. With its ceiling of constellations, towering arched roof and massive pillars, this is one of the grandest (and perhaps most famous) rooms in all of railroading.

GCT; Dec 7, 2013

The light show is also visible from the outside of Grand Central along Vanderbilt Avenue. I set up a tripod on 43rd Street (tripods are not permitted in the building -- I used a railing to steady the camera for the lead photo in this story and a combination of low shutter speeds, high ISO's and a steady hand for the other interior shots) and captured the light show with the Chrysler Building overhead.

Finally, it was time to head back to White Plains. The light show, which is sponsored by Toshiba, runs through December 26. Naturally, once I got home and looked at the photos on my computer I noticed a lot of things I would do differently, so a return trip may be in order. Grand Central Terminal is always impressive -- you won't have to twist my arm very hard.

For a more detailed look at the light show itself check out this story here.