PHOTOS: 'Holiday Express' train coming to 3 Arkansas towns before Christmas

The Kansas City Southern Holiday Express are shown in these 2016 file photos. (Photos by Susan Holland)
The Kansas City Southern Holiday Express are shown in these 2016 file photos. (Photos by Susan Holland)

Santa Claus is coming to three Arkansas towns around Christmastime aboard the festively adorned Holiday Express as part of a multi-state route.

The route includes a stop Dec. 6 in Ashdown at Main Street and U.S. 71, another Dec. 7 in Mena at 524 Sherwood Ave. and a final Arkansas visit Dec. 10 in Siloam Springs on Jefferson Street. The stops are set for 4 p.m. each day.

The six-car train affiliated with Kansas City Southern allows guests of all ages to board three cars that are filled with holiday displays, according to a statement Wednesday.

Among the displays are Santa’s sleigh, reindeer, a miniature village, the elves’ workshop, a “smiling tank car named Rudy” and a gingerbread boxcar, the railroad company, based in Kansas City, Mo., said. Visits with Santa will happen on the train’s caboose.

Entry is free and open to the public, and the length of each visit is dependent on crowd size.

The Kansas City Southern Holiday Express was created in 2001 when volunteers transformed a retired freight train into the Christmastime spectacle for use in the company’s service territory.

Twenty-two communities in six states are part of this year’s schedule.

Over its 16-year tenure, the project has raised more than $1 million for gift cards that are then donated to The Salvation Army at each scheduled stop.

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