On the Clinchfield Route

80 Years of Generosity in the Coalfields

It’s 6:58 a.m. and still pretty dark when we cross over into Elkhorn City, Kentucky and park on the street behind the WYMT news truck. We’ve shared the last thirty-something miles of flood-ravaged country mostly with matte gray coal trucks, but here, the streets are full of mothers and fathers—eyes glossy from sleeplessness—buttoning colorful coats to their collars on children who move like marionettes.

A block or so away, the train gives out a long, hollow call, and kids and parents alike break into a wild run, the frozen November ground hard underfoot.

Out of the veil of blue-gray darkness comes three great orbs of light, and the train is in motion, cutting the fog between the mountains.

For a moment, the crowd is utterly still, clouds of visible breath the only thing marking the passage of time.

There on the back of the last train car, as though summoned by some ancient magic, stands Old St. Nick (“Sainty” as he was known to our elders and as he is known still to us). It’s 7:03 a.m. Christmas has arrived in Pike County.

The Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio (CC&O) Railway launched the “world’s longest Christmas parade” in November of 1943. With World War II raging, Kentucky coal miners and their counterparts in Virginia and Tennessee worked long, hard hours to power the war machine, and yet, many families experienced deep material need. Enter Santa on a passenger rail, specially designed to share the spirit of Christmas across the coalfields.

Now in its 80th year, the tradition lives on as the CSX Santa Train brings the joy and wonder of Christmas to every child along its 110-mile route from Eastern Kentucky, through Southwest Virginia, and arriving finally in Kingsport, Tennessee.

As families gather around the last train car, St. Nick and his elves toss plush toys to tiny, eager hands—a giraffe, a tropical fish, a little tiger whose new owner proudly displays his “brown cat.”

Christmas helpers have a special eye for children who linger at the back, too shy to make their way through the hordes to Santa. Some of the volunteers walk through the crowd, handing out book bags and other essentials. One man, cigarette in hand, accepts a small white bear on his daughter’s behalf. “She’s that one there,” he says, half-pointing with the cigarette. “I got her here late.”

There is joy here, but there is something like sorrow too. This year, many on the Santa Train’s Kentucky route were affected by devastating floods that tore through the mountains in late July. Still, roads are washed out. Mud-soaked toys and quilts rest in river beds. Cars crushed like pop cans litter open fields. And homes washed from their foundations sit empty and crumbling.

For some children, what they can gather by the train tracks will be the summation of their Christmas trinkets.

A man and his teenage son hatch a plot to gather toys and stash them under cloak to be wrapped and given to younger ones on Christmas morning. The boy is pleased with himself—eaten up with delight—when they meet to share the yields of their efforts.

Besides this event’s sponsors and volunteers, a whole slew of police and CSX safety workers make the Santa Train possible. One CSX worker looks on nervously, watching for any mishap that might interrupt the morning’s festivities. “We been at this for 6 weeks,” he tells me. “I talk more about Santa than I do anything else in my life, and I tell you what, my wife is ready for Santa to wrap it up.” He smiles as he watches a little girl in a bright pink hat hug a stuffed elephant tightly.

By the time the Santa Train has pulled into its final station after 3 p.m., Santa—who never leaves the platform lest he miss some little boy or girl whose been awaiting his arrival—will have served thousands of Appalachian children.

As for the rest of us, we too are in the giving season. Let’s move through it with gracious hearts and generous hands.

**A very special thank you to Santa Train partners: CSX, Appalachian Power, Food City, The Kingsport Chamber of Commerce, and Soles4Souls.