The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train is about 1,000' long in with 14 brightly decorated rail cars, each one lit with hundreds of thousands of LEDs and designs that celebrate the spirit of the giving season.
Visitors can enjoy free musical performances by Lanco and Tiera Kennedy. Any food or cash donations are collected and stay in the local community.
2025 Holiday Train Schedule in Central MN
Tuesday, December 16 - Glenwood
20 15 Street Northeast (10:15 a.m.)
Tuesday, December 16 - Alexandria
8 Avenue & Nokomis (11:45 a.m.)
Wednesday, December 17 - Elbow Lake
US State Highway 59 (4:30 p.m.)
More about the CPKC Holiday Train
The Holiday Train will run throughout Minnesota from November 22nd through December 18th, with stops between December 12th and December 17th.
Professional musicians play free concerts from the brightly decorated train's stage. Canadian Pacific donates to the local food bank at each stop and encourages all attendees to make a monetary or heart-healthy food donation. Since its inaugural journey in 1999, the Holiday Train has raised more than $26 million and collected approximately 5.4 million pounds of food for community food banks in Canada and the U.S.
As noted from their website: You don't actually get to ride the Holiday Train. It's more of a pop-up concert experience. A typical Holiday Train event goes something like this: The train arrives and pulls to a safe stop in front of the crowd. The stage door lowers and the band opens with its first song, followed by a brief presentation with the local food bank officials and other dignitaries on stage. Once the presentation is done the band resumes the show, singing a mix of traditional and modern holiday-themed songs, and popular original songs. After the final song the boxcar door closes and the train is on its way to the next stop.
