Training for Christmas: Santa Train in Fergus Falls

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It was a frigid Saturday in early December, but I got the family out of the house for a little under an hour to meet Jolly St. Nick outdoors by the old Great Northern depot in Fergus Falls.

Otter Tail Valley railroad is own by short liner Genesee and Wyoming via their purchase of Rail America back in 2012. You can see the RailAmerica paint on the GP9 diesel.

Caboose OTVR 101 with OTVR 1483
Caboose was posed with the Geep for the Santa Train festivities. The caboose formerly ATSF (aka Santa Fe). The caboose is typically parked nearby the depot or further down the tracks near some maintenance facilities.  
For a cold day there were plenty of youngsters out to meet Santa. In fact there was a line.
GP9 in RailAmerica paint
OTVR 1483 is a GP9 originally ordered by Nickel Plate. Built in 1959 it went through a few different owners prior to coming to the Otter Tail in 1997 including Norfolk and Western and Dakota Minnesota and Eastern.

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