Caltrain Holiday Train Collects More Than 4,100 Toys

The holiday season will be brighter for thousands of children thanks to the generosity of people who donated toys during Caltrain’s seventh annual Holiday Train weekend, Dec. 8 and 9.

In conjunction with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots program and the Salvation Army, the Caltrain Holiday Train received a total of 4,179 donated toys and books and nearly $1,900 in cash donations from visitors to the stations. Since the first Holiday Train in 2001, nearly 35,000 gifts have been generated by the holiday train for needy Bay Area children.

Working at the Port of Redwood City, Caltrain staff and volunteers spend weeks decorating the train for the festive weekend. An estimated 18,000 children and adults came out to see the spectacularly lighted train, which visited nine train stations between San Francisco and Santa Clara over the weekend. Kids got a chance to meet Mr. and Mrs. Claus, Rudolph, Frosty and other holiday characters and to enjoy music provided by a Salvation Army band and on-board choruses.

Caltrain thanks all those who donated toys, as well as the sponsors of the 2007 train: Genentech, Inc.; Linear Technology Corp.; the Palo Alto Medical Foundation; Parsons; PB; and joint-venture partners Shimmick Construction Company Inc.; Balfour Beatty Rail Services, Inc.; Comcast; San Francisco Examiner; Radio Disney; Peterson Power Systems; Sierra Pacific Rail Inc.; Virginia City Rail Corporation; and Amtrak, Caltrain’s operator.

12/14/07 - jbw
Media Contact: Jonah Weinberg, 650.508.6238