RIDING THE RAILS: SANTA COMES VIA TRAIN

St. Nicklaus is riding the rails these day, via the Burlington Northern Santa Claus Express Train, making half-hour stops along a route from Mississippi into Alabama, Tennessee, and Missouri, including Thursday night's stop in downtown Cape Girardeau.

The special holiday train, with more than 20,000 twinkling Christmas lights, will appear at the Water Street floodwall at 9:15 p.m. Thursday, marking the second year for the train to make a stop here.

Spectators can view the train in Cape Girardeau from 9:15 to 9:55 p.m. near Riverfront Park on Water Street. A number of downtown merchants will remain open late Thursday.

With a large crowd expected to greet the train, some special traffic and parking arrangements have been established for the downtown area Thursday, said Richard L. Hetzel, Cape Girardeau police chief.

Parking will be prohibited on the east side of Water Street, from Broadway to Independence, starting at 8 a.m. Thursday. Starting at 5 p.m., parking will be prohibited on either side of Water Street, from Broadway to Independence, and Themis Street from Main to Water. These same areas, said Hetzel, will be closed to traffic, starting at 8:30 p.m., until the departure of the train.

The 350-foot long, five-car, decorated train carries Santa Claus and his sleigh on a flatbed railcar. Santa's workshop, decorated with miniature lights and surrounded by his elves, is fixed on another flatcar, where Santa and his elves will entertain the crowd.

A 40-foot-long tank car is painted like a giant candy cane and illuminated with 5,000 read and white lights. A lighted boxcar is painted with Christmas bells and the locomotive and caboose are also decorated with lights and Christmas images.

Two dozen candy canes -- standing 7 feet tall -- will decorate the engine, which features Santa on the front. A second flatcar will carry Santa's sleigh and reindeer and a 16-foot-tall Christmas tree.

At the end of the train will be the caboose capped with snow and decorated with flickering lights and paintings of Raggedy Ann dolls and snowmen. The caboose serves as the operation center for the train and houses the performers, crew and sound control system.

"We're expecting as many as 4,000 people for the appearance of the train," said Trish Wischman, of the Cape Girardeau Convention & Visitor's Bureau (CVB). "We know of some buses which will be bringing people to view the train."

Last year's crowd was lighter than expected. It rained, and the train was about a half-hour late.

The Santa Claus Express has four stops Thursday, three of them before Cape Girardeau. It will stop in downtown Lilbourn from 4:35 to 5:10 p.m. before traveling to Sikeston, where it will stop from 6:15 to 6:50 p.m. The train proceeds to Chaffee for a stopover from 7:55 to 8:35 p.m. at the depot on East Yoakum, before heading for Cape Girardeau, its final destination of the night.

From Cape Girardeau, the train will depart for St. Louis.

Originated in 1993 by the Springfield Division of Burlington-Northern's "Health and Safety Team," the Santa Claus Express has proven to be a popular attraction wherever it goes. Every year more communities request the train.

In 1994 the train made 26 stops averaging 4,000 to 5,000 people at each stop. In 1995 the train's schedule expanded with trips into Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. The 1996 tour began at Tulsa, Okla., and included stops at towns in Tennessee and Alabama before making four nights of visits in Missouri.