This image is the cover for the book Virginia's Legendary Santa Trains

Virginia's Legendary Santa Trains

Beginning in the 1950s, department stores around the Commonwealth teamed up with rail lines to create a magical Christmas adventure: the Santa Train. Delight-filled children from Richmond and Alexandria to Roanoke flocked to see and ride the trains sponsored by Miller & Rhoads, Cox's Department Store, J.C. Penney and many others. These majestic trains rode the rails across Virginia with old Saint Nick himself. Join railroad author Doug Riddell and former Miller & Rhoads Snow Queen Donna Strother Deekens as they recount heartwarming memories of Christmases past and chronicle the history of Virginia's Kris Kringle trains.

Donna Strother Deekens, Doug Riddell

Donna is the owner of Teapots, Treats & Traditions, a tea party business. She is author of Christmas at Miller & Rhoads: Memoirs of a Snow Queen and Santaland: A Miller & Rhoads Christmas. A graduate of the University of Richmond, she is married with two sons. Doug is a a retired Amtrak engineer, company photographer, author and columnist. His work has appeared in numerous Railroad publications and he is the author of From the Cab: Stories from a Locomotive Engineer. A Richmond native, broadcaster and journalist, Doug now makes his home in Ashland with his wife.

The History Press