Santa Claus rode in Sunday on the Kansas City Southern Holiday Express bringing to a close a weekend of festivities in Vicksburg.

Reindeer, a gingerbread boxcar, the elves’ workshop and the caboose brought smiles to the faces of hundreds of eager children, including Jack Theobald, 3, and his sister, Mary-Miller, 8.

“I want a little cotton-candy maker and a cookie maker,” Mary-Miller said.

After spending Saturday night at the Christmas Parade on Washington Street, Lindsey Theobald, their mother, said containing the excitement Sunday was the biggest challenge.

“This one is obsessed with trains,” Theobald said of Jack. “And Mary-Miller hadn’t been in two years, so she started getting excited today.”

Previous Holiday Express appearances have been hampered by cold or wet weather, but temperatures were in the upper 70s Sunday evening.

The warm weather drew one of the largest crowds in the Holiday Express’ history, with thousands of people waiting in line for a chance to tour the KCS railroad cars covered with holiday decorations and filled with goodies.

Lt. Col Greg Raimondo, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, volunteers at the Holiday Express. He said this year’s crowd was the largest ever. He estimated about 5,000 people ended up touring the train.

John Michael Pillow of Yazoo City brought his son Owen to the KCS.

“We wanted to miss the crowd in Jackson and thought it would be lighter here,” Pillow said. “Looks like we were wrong.”

For Owen, the wait was worth it, as he prepared to hop on the train and ask Santa Claus for a red dinosaur toy that transforms into a car.

Mike Bowling, along with his wife, Lynn, and son Jeremy, drove from Byram to see the KCS in Vicksburg for the first time.

“I want a root beer maker,” Jeremy said.

“He’s got his priorities straight,” his father laughed.

After riding in the parade with Girl Scout Troop 5119, Raven McDonald, 9, was with her mother in hopes of passing her wish-list on to Santa.

“I really want an iPad,” Raven said. “And a tutu and a nail machine and some clothes.”

Meanwhile, the Old Depot Museum faced a packed house thanks to discounts on admission for children and adults.

Brenda Benway was volunteering at the museum right before the KCS opened up at 4 p.m.

“It’s picking up pretty quickly,” Benway said. “We’re real excited. It’s good exposure for the museum.”

While the KCS helps cap a weekend of holiday festivities, it also has a charitable component for each town in which it stops.

At each stop, the KCS Charitable Fund contributes gift cards to the local Salvation Army to provide clothing and other necessities for needy children. Since the Holiday Express started 11 years ago, more than $1 million has been raised for the Salvation Army.

The Holiday Express is led by KCS’ Southern Belle business train and includes “Rudy,” the smiling tank car along with Santa’s sleigh.