Holiday Train will make December Charles City stop

Press staff report

The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train will include Charles City as one of its United States stops when the cars travel through Iowa in December.

The popular 1000-foot train with 14 brightly decorated cars is scheduled to stop in Charles City for half an hour on Thursday, Dec. 7. Area residents are invited to attend the event with the only price of admission being a donation to the local food bank.

The Holiday Train is expected to stop near the railroad crossing of Main Street and Grand Avenue, just north of Simply Essentials, from 11:30 a.m. to noon on Dec. 7.

The train cars and diesel-electric locomotive are decorated with hundreds of thousands of LED lights and holiday-themed designs.

Accompanying the train and presenting short shows at each stop will be performers Terri Clark, Dallas Smith and Kelly Prescott, Canadian country music artists.

The train will be coming from a previous stop in Mason City from 8 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6. Its next stop after Charles City will be Marquette from 4:30 to 4:55 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 7.

The Canadian Pacific Railroad explained that it wouldn’t be possible to cover its schedule if it planned only evening stops where the lighting is most dramatic.

“We try and vary the schedule from year to year so communities can experience both day and evening shows,” the railroad says on its website, www.cpr.ca/holiday-trains. The lights are always on, regardless of the time of the stop.

Since 1999 the Holiday Train has raised more than $10 million and collected 4 million pounds of food for community food banks along its annual route. The Canadian Pacific Railroad also makes a donation at each stop.

“Food and monetary donations are collected by your local food bank, and stay in the community where they were collected,” the railroad said. “We work in conjunction with local food banks, and they organize the collection and distribution of all donations for their region.

“The Holiday Train shines a bright light on the importance of supporting food banks,” the railroad said.