The Whitfield-Murray Historical Society announce the “Polar Express” is returning to the Chatsworth Depot on Saturday, Dec. 3. Dramatic readings of the book, The Polar Express, by local retired educator C. L. Dunn will take place inside the depot on each half hour. The Chatsworth Train Depot will be elaborately decorated for the Christmas holidays. The Depot’s Big Blue Train will take riders to visit Santa at the nearby Historic Wright Hotel. The hours of operation will be 12-4 p.m.
Highlighting the afternoon will be a model Christmas train set up and running in the freight room of the depot. Local train enthusiasts Ted Yarbrough and Robert Caffee will provide operating trains.
New this year, the Wright Hotel will also be open for tours during the same hours. In addition to meeting the special quest from the North Pole, visitors can tour the building, see vintage Christmas decorations, and enjoy a variety of displays ranging from Keith’s Store at Tennga memorabilia, original paintings by local artist Nannie Lou Arthur, original hotel furniture, art from the southwest Indians, and historic pictures of Chatsworth.
Refreshments will be served at the depot by Friends of the Chatsworth-Murray County Library. The event is free for children 10 and under (must be accompanied by a paid adult), but a $3 donation for those ages 11 and up is requested for Depot admission. Big Blue Train rides to see Santa and the hotel tours are free, but donations are always encouraged.
The event is sponsored by Friends of the Chatsworth-Murray County Library, the Wright Hotel Committee, and the Chatsworth Depot Committee.
The Chatsworth Depot is on First Avenue in the historic district of downtown while the Wright Hotel is on the corner of Market Street and Second Avenue, a block east of the Murray County Courthouse.