HO! HO! HO! The SANTA TRAIN is coming! To experience one of Southern California’s most unique arrivals of Santa introducing the Christmas Season this year, bring your family to one of four stops along the route in Ventura County. Santa will be riding the rails from Montalvo in East Ventura to Fillmore on Saturday night, November 24, 2012. Come one, Come All, Greet Santa as he stops in your neighborhood. Santa will be riding aboard the Fillmore & Western Railway Co. Santa Train, powered by a Baldwin 1913 vintage steam locomotive, the #14. This year the train is sponsored by the California Locomotive Preserve, a 501 C3, non-profit organization and several other generous Ventura County businesses and organizations including The Rotary Club of Fillmore, OST, Fillmore Volunteer Fire Fighter Foundation, Ventura County Sheriff’s Association, the Ventura County Transportation Commission and Metrolink. Santa’s first stop will be at the Montalvo Metrolink Platform in East Ventura at 5:00pm. After a 20 minute visit with children and their families, the train will continue east and stop about 300 feet east of the Bristol Street & Montgomery Street (Northbank pedestrian crossing) intersection at approximately 5:30pm for a 30 minute visit. Next stop at approximately 6:10pm will be in Saticoy at Alelia Street until approx. 6:40pm. Santa will distribute goodies from our sponsors to children at every stop, and asks kids of every age to bring their “Christmas Wish Lists” to fill his mailbag.

The “Santa Train” will arrive at the Santa Paula depot at approx. 7:10pm and will stay until approx. 7:40pm. This annual train is the only non-passenger train of the year. It is Fillmore & Western’s thank you to all of the communities along the “Santa Paula Branch Line”. The Santa train will continue on to it’s home in Fillmore, arriving at approximately 8:20pm with a reception for Santa at the Movie Train Café, 501 Santa Clara Street.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Association, as in years past, are a tremendous help and are creating a much safer environment for families at the Ventura train stops by providing officers for traffic control. Our sincere thanks go out to them for their support of our method of bringing in the holiday season. Our intent is to spread holiday cheer, and to bring a smile to the faces of the families in the communities along the Ventura County route.

This year we are asking that families bring an unwrapped toy that will be donated to the Fillmore Volunteer Firefighter Foundation and the Ventura County Deputy Sheriffs Association who will distribute the toys to needy children throughout the valley.

We wish a happy holiday season to all and hope that you, your family, friends and neighbors will line the “Orange Blossom Route” at the designated stops from the Metrolink Station in Ventura to Fillmore and help Santa bring in the holiday season. HO! HO! HO!