This year I had the opportunity to visit CSX's former Clinchfield route between Elkhorn City, KY and Kingsport, TN, to witness the 82nd running of the CSX Santa Train, which annually travels through communities along the route the Saturday before Thanksgiving, allowing Santa himself to distribute toys to children from the rear end of CSX's classy business car fleet. In years past, the train has featured interesting mixes of motive power, and this year was no exception, with the train powered by CSX's three F40PH locomotives in classic B&O garb and headed up by the brand new "Clinchfield" heritage unit, CSXT 1902, one of the 21 ES44AH heritage units in the CSX "We are ONE" program that feature the corporate CSX yellow and blue scheme on the nose and a scheme painted on the rear two-thirds of the locomotive representing a "fallen flag" railroad absorbed into the current CSX system. Here, the Santa train crawls along at a mere 5 mph across the towering Copper Creek Viaduct south of Clinchport, VA, as seen from the air.
