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Holiday Express 23rd Visit to Vicksburg. (Photo by Tracye Prewitt /Vicksburg Post)

Santa and the Holiday Express. (Photo by Tracye Prewitt/ Vicksburg Post)

Major Janna Torgerson of the Salvation Army, Santa, Mayor George Flaggs and Kamace Priest of the Salvation Army (Photo by Tracye Prewitt / Vicksburg Post)

Mayor George Flaggs, Major Janna Torgerson and Kamace Priest talk to Robert Hailey of CPKC. (Photo by Tracye Prewitt /Vicksburg Post)

Reindeer Car of Holiday Express Train (Photo by Tracye Prewitt/ Vicksburg Post)

Santa Room inside the Holiday Express. (Photo by Tracye Prewitt / Vicksburg Post)

Santas inside Holiday Express. (Photo by Tracye Prewitt/ Vicksburg Post)

Model train display inside Holiday Express. (Photo by Tracye Prewitt / Vicksburg Post)

Eli and Ashaunie Rather with Santa. (Photo by Tracye Prewitt / Vicksburg Post)

Monday’s visit marked the 23rd year the Holiday Express Train has come to Vicksburg.

Locals enjoyed viewing the festive six-car train, which includes smiling tank car Rudy; a flatcar carrying Santa’s sleigh; reindeer and a miniature village; a gingerbread boxcar; the elves’ workshop, the reindeer stable; and a little red caboose, all dressed in lights.

The holiday magic continued when area residents boarded the train and toured the inside.

The highlight of the tour was when children and adults alike were able to visit with Santa.

KCS Holiday Express was built on the tradition of the Santa Train, which ran on a network segment bought by KCS in 1997.

In 2000, a group of warm-hearted employees noticed that the Santa Train was the only Christmas some kids had. In 2001, volunteers transformed a retired freight train into the KCS Holiday Express experience thousands of people enjoy yearly.

The Holiday Express train raises funds for the local Salvation Army in the communities it visits on its route through Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. In the last 22 years, it has raised over 3.1 million dollars for those local Salvation Army.

The donation to Vicksburg’s local Salvation Army will go toward feeding those in our community who suffer from food insecurity.

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