The totals are in – and we’re proud to announce that Operation Toy Train’s 2024 season has broken every internal record the organization has ever had! We’ve collected 44,191 toys on our trains this season, representing the most toys we’ve ever collected in a single season. Plus, we had the most toys we’ve ever collected in a single day (21,749 on December 14th) and the most locations we’ve ever collected (52 stops in 48 cities across ten railroads and five states). All but two of our repeat runs saw an increase in donations from last year.
Here's the final totals from each of our trains and the individual communities we stopped in. Thanks to everyone who came out and made this holiday season our best one yet! (An asterisk denotes a stop that was brand new for our 2024 season, and “Start Up” indicates toys that were donated to that run but not at a particular stop.)
Season Start Up – 32
Weekends in November
Danbury Railway Museum
Danbury, CT* – 47
Saturday, November 9th
Naugatuck Railroad / Railroad Museum of New England
Waterbury, CT – 20
Thomaston, CT – 621
East Litchfield, CT – 171
Torrington, CT – 51
TOTAL – 863
Saturday, November 16th
Saratoga, Corinth & Hudson Railway
Greenfield Center, NY* – 86
Corinth, NY* – 142
Hadley, NY* – 198
TOTAL – 426
Saturday, November 23rd
Woodstown Central Railroad / SMS Rail Lines
Start Up – 16
Salem, NJ – 46
Woodstown, NJ – 27
Swedesboro, NJ – 1
TOTAL – 90
Sunday, November 24th
Allentown & Auburn Railroad
Topton, PA* – 43
Kutztown, PA (Railside Greenhouse)* – 4
Kutztown, PA (train station) – 68
TOTAL – 115
Saturday, November 30th
Dover & Delaware River Railroad
Hackettstown, NJ* – 525
Port Murray, NJ – 537
Washington, NJ – 4,649
Stewartsville, NJ – 529
Phillipsburg, NJ – 1,340
TOTAL – 7,580
Sunday, December 1st
Erie Turntable / Toys for Kids
Port Jervis, NY – 22
Saturday, December 7th
Sierra Northern Railway
Start Up – 233
Ventura, CA* – 139
Saticoy, CA* – 36
Santa Paula, CA* – 67
Fillmore, CA* – 55
Piru, CA* – 90
TOTAL – 620
Saturday, December 7th
Delaware & Raritan River Railroad
Farmingdale, NJ (Collingwood Auction & Flea Market)* – 178
Farmingdale, NJ (Main Street crossing) – 473
Freehold, NJ (downtown/station) – 226
Freehold, NJ (Builder’s General Supply) – 1
Tennent, NJ – 47
Jamesburg, NJ – 247
TOTAL – 1,172
Sunday, December 8th
Dover & Rockaway River Railroad
Start Up – 465
Rockaway, NJ – 1,347
Dover, NJ – 1,218
Ledgewood, NJ – 721
Flanders, NJ – 673
TOTAL – 4,424
Saturday, December 14th
New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway
Start Up – 211
Rochelle Park, NJ – 3,207
Hawthorne, NJ – 1,293
Midland Park, NJ – 2,322
Wyckoff, NJ – 2,222
Franklin Lakes, NJ* – 488
Oakland, NJ – 4,475
Pompton Lakes, NJ – 2,362
Butler, NJ – 923
Newfoundland, NJ – 1,160
Sparta, NJ – 2,543
Vernon, NJ – 543
TOTAL – 21,749
Sunday, December 15th
Middletown & New Jersey Railroad
Start Up – 236
Warwick, NY – 578
Sugar Loaf, NY – 1,378
Montgomery, NY – 2,418
Campbell Hall, NY – 1,541
Middletown, NY – 335
Port Jervis, NY – 565
TOTAL – 7,051
We will typically have a few straggler toys that show up after the trains (we call this “mop up”), so the 44,191 grand total will continue to go up over the next few weeks. Any toys collected from this point to the end of the year will be added to this year’s total, then held in one of our boxcars and given to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation in October to kick off their 2025 season.
As our volunteers take some much-needed time off to be with their families during the holiday season, we’d like to encourage everyone to continue in the holiday spirit! Be generous and courteous to everyone around you, and give as much as you’re able back to your communities and neighbors. Have a happy holiday season, and we’ll be back next winter bigger and better than ever!