Train of Thoughtfulness

A very special train brings the holiday spirit to light -- literally

Story by Benjamin Pomerance
Photos courtesy of Canadian-Pacific Railway

It's 10 p.m. and freezing in Plattsburgh, N.Y., the kind of snow-filled night that sends people scurrying for wool blankets and warm firesides to escape the frosty chill. Yet on this early winter's eve, creatures were indeed stirring at Plattsburgh's D & H Railway Station. Hundreds of humans lined the hillside adjoining the tracks, decked out in their warmest winter apparel and carrying plastic bags brimming with non-perishable foods. Huddled together like Alaskan musk oxen for warmth, members of the crowd laughed, chatted, even sang Christmas carols together as they waited for their train to appear.

Suddenly, the unmistakable wail of a train whistle pierced the night, and the crowd surged forward toward the tracks. “It's coming, it's coming,” the children cheered, the muffled clapping of their mitten-covered hands filling the air. Sure enough, the train was coming — all 11 cars and 200,000 Christmas lights of it. Shining like Rudolph's red nose through the dark December night, the glowing locomotive pulled into its designated spot at the station, the equally well-lit freight cars screeching to a halt behind it. The Canadian Pacific Holiday Food Train had arrived.

Railway workers emerged like elves from their quarters, immediately busying themselves with the brightly lit boxcars. Before long, one of the freight cars had been transformed into a stage, ready for an award-winning lineup of performers to lead the crowd in a series of spirited holiday tunes. Yet the objective of this visit went far beyond a Christmas sing-along. For more than 30 minutes, Canadian Pacific volunteers circulated among the crowd, collecting those bulging bags of food and carrying them to the train for safe storage. Eventually, those donations will be distributed to a variety of food banks and food shelves across the Northeast, an eagerly-welcomed gift to combat hunger in American and Canadian communities.

“Our mission is spreading the message of the real and urgent need to fight hunger in our communities, a need that is felt more closely than ever during the holiday season,” explains Canadian Pacific East Public Affairs Manager Michel Spenard. “If we can ease this problem for families, especially during this festive and celebratory time of year, then we will have made great strides toward accomplishing our goals.”

“We wanted to see if this idea had a chance of success.”

Holiday visitors enjoy the show at a Food Train stop.

Eight years ago, those goals were set after internal employee surveys revealed that Canadian Pacific workers wanted to become more active in the communities along their rail lines. After some thought, Spenard says, the workers decided to aid these localities through donations of food. That winter, Canadian Pacific sponsored their first Food Train, a small-scale operation of one traveling car and one employee visiting communities along one of the company's routes. “It was a kind of trial run,” Spenard remembers. “We wanted to see if this idea had a chance of success.”

As it turned out, the idea had more than just a chance of success. Thousands of people turned out to greet the train's arrival, bearing bags of food or envelopes of cash donations and praising the Canadian Pacific operators for their work. The next year, the train returned, this time featuring decorated freight cars for the first time. Again, people appeared en masse at every station, donations in hand. The year after that, Spenard says, the project expanded to include a second Holiday Food Train — one to cover the Northeast and Midwest United States, the other to operate in Canada — and more food was collected than ever before. “At that point in the process,” Spenard recalls, “we began to realize that we had something that was working well.”

It's been working well ever since. For eight consecutive years, those illuminated boxcars have sped along tracks through the U.S. and Canada, lighting up the lives of many who depend on the contents of food banks and food shelves for their daily survival. Visiting more than 100 communities across seven states and six provinces every year, the Holiday Train has collected a grand total of $3 million dollars and 1.6 million pounds of food for the various food shelves along their route.

Yet Spenard says the Canadian Pacific employees, more than 1,000 of whom volunteer to work on the Food Train every winter, believe they are just getting started. With throngs lining the tracks from Scranton, PA to Windsor, Ontario, Spenard says the potential for greater donations increases every year. It's a good thing, too. According to Spenard, many food shelves and food banks have come to rely on the donations from the Food Train's annual pilgrimage, using the sudden surge in food and money to carry them through the busy winter months.

"To have a donation the size of the contribution we receive from the Food Train — that's something almost too great to put into words.”

The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train departs for another year

Laurie Clark, Nutrition Outreach Coordinator of the Joint Council for Economic Opportunity of Clinton and Franklin Counties, is one of those workers who looks forward to the Food Train's annual December arrival. Having enough food in stock to provide for low-income families throughout the two northern New York counties is never easy, Clark says, but the winter months provide an even stiffer challenge than the rest of the year. “This is our busiest season,” Clark explains, “so any donations we receive are greatly appreciated. But to have a donation the size of the contribution we receive from the Food Train — that's something almost too great to put into words.”

Spenard says such reactions are not uncommon. “Some food shelf representatives tell me the donations they receive from us last for the next six or seven months,” Spenard states. “That is an accomplishment that everyone who has ever come out and donated should feel proud of.”

This winter, Spenard says, the railway company hopes to collect more food and money than ever before. With a new lineup of entertainers, more decorations than ever before and a visit from Santa Claus at every stop, Spenard believes Holiday Train volunteers saw the largest public turnout ever this season.

“This is a holiday highlight for us,” Spenard says. “Tearful thank-yous and hugs given and gratefully received, smiling children in their parents arms giggling when they see Santa, emotional food bank representatives on stage getting their donation check and thanking the crowd for coming out and donating — we end up doing this with lumps in our throats and tears in our eyes for all the right reasons. It doesn't get better than this.”

It was 10:30 and freezing in Plattsburgh, but the large crowd gathered at the D & H Railway Station was now toasty warm. The show was over, the food carefully packed away and the checks officially presented to the grateful food shelf representatives. With three long blasts on the whistle, the train pulled away, hundreds of hands waving good-bye as the brightly colored stream of lights slowly disappeared into the darkness. The crowd slowly dissipated, too, drifting away until the hillside by the tracks once again stood empty and cold. Yet one year from that night, in December 2008, that frozen slope will once again be alive with children young and old, eagerly waiting for the train of thoughtfulness to arrive for another year.

Have you ever seen the Holiday Train?