Metrolink Holiday Toy Express

One of the things about the Metrolink Trains that run through our area of the world, is the fact that they started service October of 1992. My son was within days of his second birthday and of course, from day one he was enthralled with them. A few years after they began commuter service, they decided to make a train with some lights on it. Bring it to a few stations and pick up toys for the Spark of Love Charity run by the Fire Department. It came up to our area of the world and was such a hit, with crowds of people and children waiting in the cold and one winter, the rain, for Santa and his elves to appear. Well, my son is now 17 and way too cool to go anymore, but the Metrolink Holiday Trains are now a holiday tradition all around the system's stations. There are so many of them that they start the festivities on Thanksgiving weekend. This was our problem this year, the train came the Friday of the Thanksgiving Holiday and we totally missed it. We have one more possibility at Princessa Station, at the far East End of Santa Clarita, this weekend. For some reason that I really don't understand, they don't stop anymore at my station, Santa Clarita, which is the center part of the city. They do Downtown Newhall at the far south end of our city and then Princessa, way over to the east. I guess they figure 2 stations are enough for one town. Have I ever mentioned how large my city is...lol
So anyway, last year my husband and I left the (lazy) kid at home and we drove down to Downtown Newhall, for the first time.

That station is at grade and there is a RR crossing right at the station that they blocked from traffic, for about an hour. We waited in the cold for what felt like forever and finally we were rewarded. A HUGE train pulls up with more cars then my husband and I had ever seen, a multilevel stage show goes on, built on a flat car.

Blow up holiday ornaments appear at the very end of the production. Let's just say this is not a tiny performance anymore. :-)
Fast forward to last Friday night. I was sleeping on the train and all of a sudden I hear all sorts of comments from my fellow passengers and there over on the adjacent track, is the holiday train and a crowd of people at Burbank Station. It was so good to see. I got one picture of it, but they did not open the doors on that side of the train, so I had to shoot through the window. Always a challenge...
It's the things like this, that change Los Angeles into something with a tradition of it's own. In a town known for showing off the rest of the world's traditions, via film, it's good to see.