16 October 2006
Canadian Pacific Railway Announces Lineup, Schedule for U.S. Holiday Train Shows
 The musicians have been chosen, the whistle stops selected and the
lights soon will be hung on the boxcars with care for Canadian Pacific Railway's U.S. Holiday Train and its goodwill journey for food
shelves across the U.S. Northeast, southern Ontario, and Upper Midwest.
This year's U.S. Holiday Train musicians will be Milwaukee folk-rocker Willy Porter, Nashville bluegrass/country
singer-songwriter and former New Grass Revival guitarist Pat Flynn and Canadian Country Music Association Hall of Famer
Tracey Brown. Visit the Holiday Train page for their bios and photos or go to their websites at http://www.willyporter.com/,
http://www.patflynnmusic.com/, and www.riproar.ca
Beginning 1 Dec 2006 at Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Penn., the U.S. train will visit 40 communities in
New York, southern Ontario, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota before ending 17 Dec 2006 in Weyburn, Sask.
Major waypoints include Binghamton and Plattsburgh, N.Y.; Windsor, Ont.; Gurnee, Ill., just north of Chicago; the greater Milwaukee
area; Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Minot, N.D.
A second Holiday Train will stay entirely in Canada, leaving Beaconsfield near Montreal on 1 Dec 2006 and ending in Port
Moody outside of Vancouver, B.C., on 19 Dec 2006, making 60 stops. This train's artists will be Wide Mouth Mason and Lisa
Brokop.
The program has raised $2.4 million (Cdn) and collected 1.2 million pounds of food since the first Holiday Train ran in 1999.
Thousands of people gather trackside at depots, railroad crossings and other unusual venues along CPR's route to enjoy the arrival of
the brightly decorated trains lighting up the winter nights. The musicians, who ride in private vintage cars at the end of the
12-car train, hop out and climb aboard a boxcar in the middle of the train that opens to reveal a stage where they perform
live holiday concerts and invite crowds to sing along. Crowds donate money and nonperishable food, and the railroad presents a check at
each stop. Food banks say the cash donations are especially appreciated because every dollar can distribute $9 worth of
food.
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