Eastern Railroad Discussion > CSX's 2017 Santa Train, 75 Years of a Clinchfield Tradition

11/18/2017

The annual run of the Santa Train along CSX's former Clinchfield mainline in Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee is a tradition that is well celebrated by railroaders, local residents, and railfans. For some of the local residents, this is how they are able to provide Christmas gifts to their families each year as the economic well-being of the area is low. Corporate greed could have killed this train at any point but thankfully, the tradition has continued strong through eras of the Family Lines, Seaboard System, and todays CSX.

For the 2017 run, CSX went above and beyond to make the 75th Santa Train special. They sought out the cooperation of the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum (SARM) based out of Oak Ridge, Tennessee to use two of their diesel locomotives to use on the train.

SARM's restored Seaboard Coast Line EMD SD45 #2024 was masked as CRR 3632. In 1977, the Clinchfield traded 7 GE U36Cs to SCL for an equal number of SD45s. 3632 represents was all 7 looked like after the CRR received them is numbered one engine higher than the 7th SD45.

The most prominent locomotive used on the train was CRR 800. 800 was the first diesel locomotive built for the Clinchfield in 1948 as an EMD F3A. It was later rebuilt to F7 specs and lasted through the successor railroads to CSXT 116 before being donated to the Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society and bein repainted as C&O 8016. A few months before the Santa Train, CSX took it to their locomotive shops in Huntington, West Virginia where SARM members and CSX shop employees worked diligently to restore 800 to the way it looked when it left the EMD decades ago.

In this video, we see the 75th Santa Train at the Virginia towns of Fremont, Dante, Dungannon, Fort Blackmore, and Clinchport. The noise from the horns of 800 and 3632 was neat just to hear sounds that used to be common on the Clinchfield. The amount of railfans chasing the train that day would make one think a steam locomotive was pulling the train with some traveling far from states such as New York and Wisconsin for the event.

The sight of 3632 and 800 brought back memories for many that weekend. For some local residents, it invoked memories of past Santa Trains and family members who worked for the railroad. For some current and retired railroad employees, it brought back memories of seeing Clinchfield trains that inspired them to pursue a railroad career or memories of their early years on the railroad such as George Hatcher, who at the age of 97, is the oldest retired Clinchfield employee still alive.

A big thank you to those at CSX and SARM who worked hard to make the 2017 Santa Train a memorable one. Let's hope this Clinchfield tradition continues for years to come.

Enjoy and thanks for watching.

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That was AWESOME! Quite the horn show they had there. And the way it echoed off the mountains in the last scene was great! Thanks for sharing!
-Caleb

Absolutely spectacular! Thanks for taking and posting this wonderful video.
Definitely like the Clinchfield and CRR #800.
ALLEN

Fantastic video. Very well done, thanks for sharing!