Special Postmark Commemorates Steam Train Appearance

What:
Everyone has the chance to have their holiday mail cancelled with special commemorative postmark aboard Santa's Steam Train in Plymouth, WI.

Who:
Santa Claus (Jerry Thompson)
Chuck Wisler, OIC, Plymouth Post Office

When:
Saturday, December 13, 2008
8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Where:
Santa Steam Train Station
115 Thayer St
Plymouth, WI 53073

Background:
This will be the only location on the North American Continent where an actual steam train will be operating on an active commercial railroad on the weekend of December 13 and 14. A special railway car will be designated as a Railway Post Office (RPO) for this special event, where you can mail a keepsake to treasure for years to come. Simply bring your holiday cards and letters - postage can be purchased on-sight. Place the postage on your mail and the Postal Service will do the rest. There is no cost for the cancellation.

The RPO will be pulled by a restored SOO LINE steam locomotive built in 1913 by American Locomotive Works. Other special cars in the train will include a restored Milwaukee Road rib-side caboose, a special box car painted by the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad to commemorate the City of Plymouth, Sargento Cheese and the Santa Event, Wisconsin & Southern Railroad private passenger cars.

Children will be in line waiting for their chance to sit on Santa's lap in his restored rib-side Milwaukee Road Caboose, heated of course with a coal burning stove! This is the type of good old-fashioned holiday festivity that can be cherished and remembered for the years ahead with a special cancellation memento to send to your family and friends.

On Sunday, December 14, the steam train will begin a 60-mile-long photo run in Elkhart Lake at 8:00am. When coal smoke and steam mixes with the cool December air, it creates a sight one will not soon forget! Whistles will be blowing and bells ringing. This will be the first time in 55 years that a steam train has passed through this resort community. The train will continue steaming south through Plymouth, Waldo, Adell, Random Lake, Fredonia, Saukville, Grafton, Cedarburg and onward to Milwaukee.

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/news.

An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation, 146 million homes and businesses, six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.