The 10th annual Keokuk Junction Railway Santa Train will make six stops along the KJRY railroad line in central Illinois on Saturday, Dec. 9. Children can visit Santa on the train at stops in Mapleton, Glasford, Breeds, Canton, Cuba and Smithfield. (Photo courtesy of the Keokuk Junction Railway Co.)

All Aboard!

For kids like 5-year-old Zeke Gutierrez who love trains and Santa Claus, the Keokuk Junction Railway Co. has just the thing.

On Saturday, Dec. 9, the railway company will operate its 10th annual Santa Train with six stops along the KJRY railroad line in central Illinois. The stops offer children a chance to board the caboose at no charge for a visit with St. Nick while learning some railroad safety tips.

Arrival times for the scheduled stops are: 8:30 a.m. at Mapleton Road in Mapleton; 9:35 a.m. at Oak Street in Glasford; 11:20 a.m. at County Road 23 in Breeds; 1:30 p.m. at Second Avenue in Canton; 3:45 p.m. at Third Street in Cuba; and 5:15 p.m. at Main and Front streets in Smithfield.

“Santa rides in on a holiday caboose pulled by one of our locomotives. At each stop the kids can get on the caboose and give Santa their Christmas list, and they get a goody bag on the way out,” said Erica Kelsey, an accountant with the Keokuk Junction Railway who’s organizing the Santa Train this year. “With this being the 10th year, we did get train whistles to add to the goody bags, so that should be kind of fun and different for the kids.”

Santa is portrayed by one of the railway company’s board members, a role he’s enjoyed playing for the past 10 years, Kelsey added. 

“He’s from southern Illinois, but he always comes up every year to be a part of the Santa Train. We even have some employees from other lines like Ohio that will make the trip to Peoria to be a part of it. It’s on a Saturday so they’re not getting paid to be there, but the kids are all excited and it’s just fun for everyone,” Kelsey said.

Stella and Zeke Gutierrez of Pekin enjoyed a visit with Santa last year in the caboose of the Keokuk Junction Railway Santa Train. The kids, who love trains, are hoping to visit the Santa Train again this year at one of its six stops in central Illinois on Dec. 9. (Photo courtesy of Ashley Gutierrez)

Keokuk Junction Railway is owned by Pioneer Railways, which operates a couple of different railroads around the country but is headquartered in Peoria. “This is the only place in the country that we run the Santa Train,” Kelsey said.

The event began through Operation Lifesaver, a railroad safety education group that offered grants for coloring books and similar materials to help spread the word on safety demonstrations. While children and adults wait in line to climb aboard the caboose, railroad administrators are on hand to talk about railroad safety.

“That was the original intent of Operation Lifesaver: to get out in the community and teach  people about the dangers of playing on railroad tracks. The trains can be fairly quiet, so it’s not safe ever to play on the tracks,” Kelsey said.

Nearly 1,000 kids and adults typically visit the Santa Train annually over the six stops.

“We get a lot of adults that are interested in trains who come out, as well as children, of course. If requested, we’ll even give tours of the locomotive. It’s pretty tight in there, but we let people up into the locomotive to see what it looks like,” Kelsey said.

Seeing the engine was a highlight for Zeke Gutierrez of Pekin and his 7-year-old sister, Stella, last year.

“I liked that we got to go inside the engine and honk the horn,” Zeke said. “The engine was loud. And I’d

Stella said climbing up the side of the train was a little scary, but she liked seeing the engine and visiting with Santa Claus. “It was cool,” said the second-grader.

“There were big steps, so they had to help us up and down the ladder,” the kids’ mom, Ashley said. The Gutierrez children come by their fascination of trains naturally since their dad, Tony Gutierrez, is a locomotive engineer for Union Pacific Railway.

The Gutierrez family is planning to visit the Santa Train again this year. “I think it’s neat that they let the kids go up and get on the engine,” Ashley said. “The conductor and engineer were there, and they let them see where their dad sits, even though it’s different than his train. I’d recommend it to others. Especially if they have kids that love trains. At most places, to see a train and get on a train, you have to

For one year in 2011 the Keokuk Junction Railway partnered with another railroad that had passenger train cars and charged a fee for rides with proceeds donated to a local charity. “We only operate industrial train cars, and we haven’t been able to coordinate with the railroad that has passenger train cars since that one year,” Kelsey said.

She noted that about 20 railroad employees volunteer on the Santa Train and enjoy the excitement it creates among the children.

“The kids are usually really thrilled to meet Santa and see a train up close and climb into the caboose. You can’t get much better than that,” Kelsey said. “We hope in the spirit of Christmas it will be an event that’s appreciated in their communities. We appreciate them because we run a train through their community.”

At least one house along the tracks throws a party every year for family and friends in anticipation of the arrival of the Santa Train, Kelsey added.

For more information about the Keokuk Junction Railway Santa Train, visit the website at www.pioneer-railcorp.com or visit the KJRY Santa Train page on Facebook.

—Santa to greet hundreds while aboard Keokuk Junction train–