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The idea was shared by a man named Paul and his fellow workers on the DT&I Railroad. They took an old steam engine, cleaned it up and then decorated it along with a caboose and arranged to give a group of orphan children a ride around town on the designated Santa Train. They had a Santa Clause and gifts for all. When Paul shared that information with me a little bell went off in my imagination. I called Paul three or four times after that getting a picture firmly planted in my mind. At Grand Trunk Western I had been named “Employee Communications Officer” and there was an iron wedge between top leadership and workers. We needed something to bring them together, knock down the walls and get on with the job of becoming a better, more caring place to work. I wrote a two page, single spaced letter to Vice- President John Burdakin describing, in detail, a project involving a Santa Train which would carry the President of GTW plus the three vice presidents together with their spouses and children to meet with all GTWRR employees, their spouses and their children. A short time later I received a call from Mr. Burdakin about a big meeting in Detroit planning for a Santa Train. I believe that was in 1972 and that Santa Train has run every year since then. As planned Dr. Bandeen moved back to Canada and became President of the humongus Canadian National Railway. My boss, John Burdakin, moved up to the President’s job. I like to think of the ten years following that first Santa Train as the most harmonious in regard to the relationships between labor and top management in the railroad’s history. It had something to do with just a bit of that wonderful Christmas Spirit entering all our lives and into our workplace.
Recommended Reading:
The Santa Train: The Train That Nobody Seemed To Care About – by Art Fettig
Once upon a time, there was a worn out locomotive that nobody seemed to care about. Except maybe Charlie Weller, who was an old retired railroad engineer. And maybe nobody cared about old Charlie anymore either. At least it often seemed that way to Charlie. He had little to do but sit around and remember the good old days when he would run that ancient train up and down the tracks hauling freight.
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