A rarely seen passenger train made an appearance in Jonesboro yesterday. It wasn’t just any train. Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad brought its 15-car Holiday Express to Jonesboro. The Holiday Express is in its seventh year of operation and it is a way the company can honor the United States military. Yesterday afternoon, it took 350 military families on a ride from Jonesboro to Marked Tree and back. Santa was on board to meet with the kids and the families enjoyed refreshments in the different cars. I boarded the train yesterday morning to take a look. Meeting me on the Missouri River car was Joe Faust, Director of Public Affairs for Burlington Northern Santa Fe. He tells me how the idea for this started.
“We just wanted to do something to celebrate the military,” said Faust. “This is a celebration of the contributions those men and women make. During this time of year, many of them are deployed and may only be able to come home for a very short amount of time before having to go back. This is something unique that they can do to have a great time with their families.”
The cars were made in the 1950’s and still have that vintage look. Some of the cars did have flat screen TVs and had access to Wi-Fi, but Faust says they still have that classic touch. To add to the holiday mood, Christmas music was playing in the background on several of the cars.
“When you say they are more modern, I don’t know. This is what these cars looked like in the 1950s. We tried to keep that consistency about what passenger train travel was like in that nostalgic era, so we are trying to keep that nostalgia going.”
The train included dining cars, which could seat 48 people at a time. Each car of the train was set up differently, but all cars had a distinct holiday theme. Every child also received a railroad coloring book with the main theme being railroad safety:
“Every car has a very distinct theme. A great meticulousness was taken to decorating these cars. One thing that you will see all over these cars is safety. Jonesboro sees between 20 to 30 trains per day, so it is a very busy area. It is very important that we get our message of safety across while doing this.”
The cars that are used for the Holiday Express are part of fleet that is used for special occasions, such as the holiday express.
“These cars are part of the BNSF fleet. We have 28 cars that are located in Topeka, Kansas. We bring them out for special events, such as the Holiday Express, the Presidential Inauguration, the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, golf tournaments, the Super Bowl, and of course customer entertainment.”
The Holiday Express spends a limited time on the tracks, as stops included Springfield, Missouri Wednesday and Jonesboro yesterday. Today, the train is in Memphis. Tomorrow it will be in Mississippi and will make its last stop in Birmingham, Alabama on Sunday. The Holiday Express visits different parts of the nation. Last year, it was in the Pacific Northwest and it will visit another part of the nation next year. In addition to providing the free rides and entertainment last night, BNSF also made a ten thousand dollar donation to the Arkansas Military Family Relief Trust Fund and the Craighead County Veterans Monument Foundation.
