By Eric Berger
PORT JERVIS, N.Y. — Operation Toy Train is back on track and ready to run its train through parts of New Jersey and New York in early December, collecting donated toys for underprivileged children of the region. Naturally, Santa Claus will be aboard to meet the children at each stop.
The annual train was canceled due to the pandemic in 2020, but despite that setback, the organization and its U.S. Marine partners still met their goal of gathering more than 20,000 toys. This year, the train is scheduled to operate from Rockaway to Phillipsburg, N.J. on the Dover & Delaware River on December 4; Flanders to Succasunna, N.J. on the Dover & Rockaway River on December 5; Rochelle Park to Vernon on the New York, Susquehanna & Western on December 11; and Warwick to Port Jervis, N.Y. on the Middletown & New Jersey on December 12. Special collection bins labeled “Toys for Tots” have been positioned near each of the 24 stops and people are encouraged to put their donations of new, unwrapped toys in these bins during October and November, or when the train visits to collect them. Timetables listing the locations and times for each stop can be found at www.OperationToyTrain.org/schedule.
The mixed train consist will once again be trailed by the streamlined observation-lounge-sleeper built for the New York Central’s 20th Century Limited, Hickory Creek, along with tavern-lounge NYC 43. Both cars are owned by the United Railway Historical Society. The train will also feature TOYX 904059, an ex-Chessie/B&O C-27A caboose in original Chessie paint.
Rounding out the consist will be TOYX 1775, a 50-ft, ex-Pennsylvannia X58 boxcar in green camo paint; TOYX 1947, a 50-ft ex-Minnesota Dakota & Western 5277 boxcar in white camo paint; TOYX 2009, a 57-ft ex-Bangor & Aroostook reefer, in a blue Marines scheme; and NYC 279820, a 60-ft ex-Conrail/Reading boxcar, in original Conrail paint, which will appear on NYS&W/M&NJ runs only. The organization is asking everyone who comes to see or photograph the classic railcars bring at least one new toy for a needy child.
The last stop of final run of the season will be the first time the train has operated into Port Jervis, which happens to be the new home base for Operation Toy Train. Consequently, several of the cars will be remaining there after the donations are unloaded and turned over to the U.S Marines Toys for Tots program.
The area around the former Erie Lackawanna turntable in Port Jervis is the future site of the Port Jervis Transportation History Center, a collaborative effort of Operation Toy Train and three other local non-profit organizations, and the TOYX equipment will be displayed there.
The first public event planned for the center is a toy collection event during Port Jervis’s annual Christkindlmarkt, November 28. Further details on that event are pending and will be announced at www.OperationToyTrain.org.
