11/18/2017
2017 marked the 75th anniversary of the annual Santa Train on CSX's former Clinchfield mainline in Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. To make this year special, CSX went above and beyond to make sure this was an unforgettable Santa Train.
The Southern Appalachia Railway Museum (SARM) in Oakridge, TN was sought out for two of their locomotives to pull the train. SARM's Seaboard Coast Line EMD SD45 #2024 was masked as Clinchfield 3632, one number higher than the SD45s CRR acquired from SCL in the 1970s.
The locomotive that was the centerpiece of the 75th Santa Train was CRR 800, the first diesel locomotive CRR purchased and received in 1948. Originally built as an EMD F3A, it was upgraded to an F7A. 800 lasted long enough through the Family Lines and Seaboard System eras that it was part of the original CSX engine roster. After CSX purchased four Amtrak EMD F40PHs, 800 was donated to the Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society (COHS) and repainted as C&O 8016, where it was leased to operate on the Potomac Eagle Railroad in West Virginia until 2014. COHS later worked out a deal with an individual associated with SARM where he became the new owner of 800. About two months before the 75th Santa Train, 800 was taken to CSX's Locomotive Shops in Huntington, West Virginia where it was painstakingly restored to its original appearance when it was built at EMD's Lagrange, Illinois shops in 1948 to every last detail such as the horn and portholes.
Watch as the Clinchfield's first diesel locomotive returns to home rails putting on an unforgettable show. You'll see the train starting at Elkhorn City, KY where we end the chase with an epic show of sound at the iconic Copper Creek trestle at Clinchport, VA.
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