Railfanning the Essex County Turtle Back Zoo Railroad during the 2024 Holiday Lights Spectacular

It’s that time once again! The Holiday Lights Spectacular is back and better than before! Thanks to our dedicated maintenance staff, lights are glimmering throughout the entire zoo, from string lights, holiday decorations, and musical displays. There has never been a better time to come out to the zoo than during the most wonderful time of the year!
As usual, the train is a very integral part during the holiday season. For this year, 382 and 306 were the primarily locomotives used to pull the trains; this is the first time 306 has done the holiday runs since 2022. 199 also makes an appearance, having filled in for 382 for one night. All three locomotives appear in this video; this also marks the KZbin debut of 199 with its new LED headlight, which was installed in November.
This year, the railroad was finally able to get another holiday whistle meant for 382, which is made of chrome instead of brass like the other whistle used by 306. Unfortunately, due to both whistles falling off because of their large size, the railroad instead opted to keep using the normal single chimes while the holiday whistles would receive modifications for next year. Funny enough, both 306 and 382 swapped whistles; 382 was given 306’s whistle as a temporary measure while the original holiday whistle went back to 306, but after it fell off, 306 got 382’s whistle. They will most likely swap back after the holiday season ends.
It’s been another great year for the Turtle Back Zoo, and this is always a great way to end it! While this year was slightly troubling due to colder-than-usual temperatures, we still had a great Holiday Lights show! I was also able to have my friend film a video of me driving the holiday train, which will be out on Christmas Day. As we approach 2025, this is a reminder that I’ll be releasing my big 10-year special in January, so stay tuned! Until then, enjoy the video, and be sure to visit us now until the end of the year!

[@trainspottersforlife9182]

Very cool dude

[@davidng2336]

Thanks man. Happy Holidays!