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The People Behind the North Pole Express

Volunteers speak on their role in preserving history

Marilyn Higgins

Dec. 8, 2025 4:36 pm

On Dec. 6 2025, West Side Lumber Company locomotive #9 rounds the bend on her way to the North Pole. (Marilyn Higgins/The Union)

Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.

MT. PLEASANT - The Midwest Central’s first train to the North Pole left the station on Saturday, Dec. 6. By all accounts, the event was truly magical. But Santa’s magic alone cannot run a railroad.

The Midwest Central, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving American railroading history, has always relied heavily on unpaid volunteers. Since its inception in 1957, these people have been the backbone of the museum’s operations.

Engine #9 keeps engineer Branden Gerst and fireman Lauren Osier warm, as all wait patiently for the return journey. (Marilyn Higgins/The Union)

Lauren Osier is a student fireman on the Midwest Central.

“I’m still in my learning phase,” she said, sitting in the locomotive. “I’m about ready to become a full fireman. Very soon, hopefully.”

Active on TikTok and YouTube as “thefemalefoamer” (with Foamer being slang for a particularly enthusiastic railroad buff), Osier shares her love of railroads with the world, generating interest in the history she seeks to preserve.

Braden Grust, an engineer for CPKC, spends his spare time on the Midwest Central. Starting in 2009 as a junior conductor, he worked his way up through the ranks, becoming a steam locomotive engineer. Having come to Old Threshers all his life, Grust now maintains the same museums that inspired him as a child.

These two were the engine crew for Saturday’s trains. Departing from the Hillsboro Depot, Engine #9 took families to Santa’s Workshop, for visits with the Clauses and the Snow Princess, hot chocolate and cookies, arts and crafts, and the opportunity to play with model trains.

Under the watchful eye of North Pole staff, children play with model trains. The model railway and the Christmas tree have a long association. (Marilyn Higgins/The Union)
Ella Leonard, Tray Schuster, and Isaiah Denning lend a hand serving cocoa. Leonard and Schuster previously played in Mt. Pleasant High’s production of Radium Girls, as a corporate attorney and the President of the US Radium Corporation. (Marilyn Higgins, The Union)
Invited by the Midwest Central, Investigative Officer Anthony Carrasco of the Mt. Pleasant Police Department served as a liaison to the North Pole’s law enforcement. (Marilyn Higgins/The Union)
A young girl confides in Santa Claus her Christmas wishes. Santa Claus, with his hectic schedule, is the busiest volunteer of all. (Marilyn Higgins/The Union)
At the North Pole, families wait to see Santa Claus. (Marilyn Higgins/The Union)

You don’t have to be crazy to work on the railroad. The MCRR will teach you! Anyone wishing to work on the train itself starts out as a conductor. They take tickets, and ensure the safety of the passengers. Or, you begin working in the shops. There, you will work on the steam engines, and learn the many tasks needed to keep them running. After 60 volunteer hours, you can become a trainee fireman, and learn to feed and water the steam lokeys on their journeys around the museum’s loop of track.

Safely back at the depot, engine #9 unloads passengers, and prepares to take the next train to the North Pole. (Marilyn Higgins/The Union)

The Midwest Central’s North Pole Express runs for the next two weekends, 10a.m. to 6p.m.

Call Marilyn Higgins at 319-368-8895 or email her at marilyn.higgins@southeastiowaunion.com
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