By Larry Alexander
Intelligencer Journal
December 7, 2007

STRASBURG, Pa. - Santa’s Paradise Express is about to pull out of the station.

The popular holiday train ride features Christmas carolers, brass horns and a personal visit with Santa during its 45-minute journey through the Amish countryside.

Festivities will begin as soon as the visitor reaches the train platform, said Kathy Gochenaur, Strasburg Rail Road’s Christmas coordinator. Carolers will be strolling past the shops, all of which have been decorated with lights, ornaments and metal Christmas stars fabricated at the railroad’s own workshop. Two metal Star Trees, also made on site, will be on display.

A heated rail coach on a siding will be the home for holiday story-telling, and visitors may go inside the J tower, an old switching tower, for a bird’s-eye view of the approaching train long before it enters the station.

Inside the ticket office will be a display of old photos and decorations from Christmases past, on loan from the National Christmas Center.

On the train, which consists of six coaches, a dining car and a first-class parlor coach, more carolers will stroll car-to-car, as will a pair of brass horn players.

Starting from the opposite end of the train, Santa will make his way along, saying “hi” to all the children and handing a gift to those between ages 3 and 11. The singers, musicians and Santa, will all pass each other as they traverse the train.

“That way everybody, at some point during their trip on the railroad, will see Santa Claus, the carolers and hear the horn players,” Gochenaur said.

Carols will be sung by two groups, all high school students — the Madrigal Singers from Lampeter-Strasburg High School and a group of home-schooled students. Each ensemble will feature 10 to 12 voices.

“They’re a delight to hear,” Gochenaur said.

Each car will be heated by a pot-belly stove and decorated for Christmas, with the parlor coach being the most festive, with a live tree and lights.

“That coach is decorated extra-special because it is first class,” Gochenaur said.

This is the 49th year that Santa’s Paradise Express will rumble along the rails between Strasburg and Paradise, and Gochenaur said its popularity has only increased. In recent years, she said as many as 10,000 people have ridden the rails at Christmas.

Santa’s Paradise Express will roll out of the station Saturday and Sunday, as well as Dec. 13-16. Trains run throughout the day on the weekends with special 7 p.m. trains on Thursday and Friday.

Coach fare tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for children 3 to 11 and $4 for children three and under. For first class, tickets are $18 for adults, $13 for children ages 3 to 11 and $7 for youngsters under age 3.

Santa’s Paradise Express, Sat. and Sun. (also Dec. 13-16), 45-minute train ride with Santa, carolers and musicians, plus storybook readings, holiday decorations and more, Strasburg Rail Road, Route 741, Strasburg, $4-$15, 687-7522.