By J. Niimi
As far as quintessentially Chicago activities go, for the past 33 years, riding the annual CTA Holiday Train has ranked up there with such rituals as attending a Cubs or Sox game; enjoying some tavern-style pizza; and calling a driver who cuts you off on your bicycle a j-----.
This season, the Holiday Train ran from November 29 through December 23. In previous years, I’ve seen the festively decked-out train roll by. It’s hard to miss with its flashing red-and-green LED lights, blaring Christmas music, and destination sign on the front that reads "Santa’s Express." But, I've never actually taken a ride on it.
To remedy that, on a nippy Saturday afternoon I made a point to catch the holiday train – and while I was at it, a big dose of the spirit of Christmas in Chicagoland.
I live on the Northwest Side near the Blue Line, so I checked the handy Holiday Train schedule on the CTA’s website, and made a plan to make my rendezvous with Santa at the Racine Blue station near the University of Illinois Chicago. I was running a little early, and it was a sunny but blustery December day. So rather than freezing my rear end off on the wind-swept, open-air Racine platform, I got off at Jackson and killed time in the toasty indoor station.
At the Jackson stop, I overheard a nearby group of six talking about their similar plans to meet up with Santa’s Express. I struck up a conversation, and it turned out they were visiting town from Tampa for a quick weekend getaway, their sixth or seventh such jaunt in recent years. The Floridians were effusive about their love for the Windy City (although maybe not the wind itself), and had even made a point of catching a ride on the CTA Holiday Bus the previous day as well.
When the next westbound Blue Line train showed up, we boarded a railcar together. It was my first experience with one of the new-ish 7000-series rail cars, which feature some fancy next-generation appointments like frosted glass partitions that sport the CTA logo, a fully digital color screen displaying the next several destinations, and snazzy patterned-upholstery seats in an updated configuration.
During the short ride to the Racine station, I chewed the fat with the visitors about things to do and see in town during their stay. They asked me my recommendation for the best deep-dish pizza, and I recommended Pizzeria Uno. I also suggested they hit up a local bar to experience a "Chicago Handshake": an Old Style with a bracing shot of Jeppson's Malört on the side. A few of the folks were familiar with the liqueur's notorious reputation, but had yet to try it firsthand. I regaled them with a few eyebrow-raising slogans locals had come up with regarding the bitter wormwood-flavored spirit. One of the ones that can be printed here is, "Tonight’s the night you fight your dad."
The Racine platform, located in the median of the Eisenhower Expressway, was buzzing with people eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Holiday Train. That was in part due to shared holiday spirit, and partly because they were freezing their cans off.
The bedazzled train pulled into the station right on time in a flash of Christmas color, the Beach Boys’ classic "Little St. Nick" blasting from its side speakers. CTA elves in garish red-and-green outfits bounded out of the open doors, handing out candy canes to all the waiting kids. The energy in the train cars was palpable, with the elves skipping up and down the ornately decorated aisles, while families took turns shooting photos of each other with their phones.
As "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" by John Lennon and Yoko Ono played on the speakers in the ceiling, I chatted with an older gentleman sitting in one of the adjacent green-red seats. He introduced himself as Ralph, a retired bus mechanic who worked for the CTA for 31 years. The ex-Marine, who goes by the nickname "Sarge," was there with his fourteen-year-old son, who was one of the people wearing an elf costume.
We arrived at the Forest Park station, the westernmost stop on the eponymous Blue Line branch. The station was mobbed with families waiting to get a snapshot of their kids on Santa’s lap. Workers in holiday-themed outfits repositioned the crushed red velvet throne on the flatbed "North Pole" train car to get ready for the photo session.
Meanwhile, I made my way downstairs to the little snack shop on the ground level, to grab a quick bite. The store offers cold drinks, a wide variety of mini-sized 75-cent bags of chips, and scratch-off lottery tickets. But the main attraction for some of the peckish patrons was the store's spin on "walking tacos". One could buy any bag of chips and, for an upcharge, the lady behind the counter would ladle nacho cheese directly into the bag, topping it with an optional scoop of meat and jalapeño peppers.
Outside the shop, I watched customers awkwardly eating from their steaming snack bags and licking their fingers. Meanwhile K-9 patrol officers made their rounds, and diligent CTA janitors cleaned the turnstiles with rags and spray detergent.
A long line to see Santa was forming on the stairs up to the platform, so I walked outside for some fresh air and to get away from the growing throng of revelers. Every December, a friend of mine in New York City sponsors an informal contest of sorts on Facebook, in which the goal is to see how long one can go without hearing Paul McCartney’s cloying holiday anthem "Wonderful Christmastime". It was at this time I heard the song’s instantly recognizable synthesizer blurps coming from a speaker above my head, and I went ahead and posted my date and time of elimination to her feed.
All in all, the Holiday Train ride was a fun – and affordable – little yuletide excursion, and a great way to get into a jolly holiday mood. Today, the train was returned to its storage shed until next year, like Santa’s sleigh. For more info on becoming an elf next year, call 1-888-YOUR-CTA).
A lifelong Chicagoland resident, J. Niimi is the author of "R.E.M's Murmur," part of the "33 1/3" book series.
