By: Forrest R. Church Publisher
NORTHWEST OHIO PUBLISHING
(The Village Reporter)
There are holiday traditions that stay put, and a few that travel.
Launched in 1999 by Canadian Pacific Railway, the Holiday Train was built around a straightforward idea: use the railroad to help stock local food banks during the winter. Since then, the program—now operated by CPKC after the 2023 merger with Kansas City Southern—has raised more than $26 million and 5.4 million pounds of food. Each season, nearly 200 free shows are staged along the line, with a boxcar side dropping down into a stage and performers drawing attention to hunger relief efforts. The trains themselves, about 1,000 feet long with 14 cars wrapped in LED lights, have become familiar seasonal landmarks. In 2025, acts such as Tyler Shaw, Smash Mouth, and American Authors are among those scheduled at official stops.
Northwest Ohio’s encounter with the 2025 U.S. tour was brief but memorable. After entering the United States from Windsor, Ontario, around 6 p.m. on November 22, the train moved through Michigan and reached our area overnight into November 23. There were no formal stops or concerts in Ohio—only a pass‑through in the small hours of the morning.
Estimated times put the train near Montpelier around 12:12 a.m. and Blakeslee at about 12:29 a.m., then on into Indiana, passing Butler near 12:50 a.m. and continuing toward Waterloo. As with any rail operation, those times could shift. Freight traffic and other needs often shuffle the schedule, so families and railfans turned to social media, tracking apps, and Facebook groups to follow the train’s progress once it cleared the border.