On board the Canadian Pacific Railway's Holiday Train, Santa puts on a show for the assembled crowd. The train will make three stops in the Toronto area this weekend.

Just before Christmas every year since 1999, the Canadian Pacific Railway has sent a brightly decorated Holiday Train across Canada to collect food and money for local food banks and to put on holiday shows in railway towns.

Glowing with nearly 200,000 LED lights and carrying Santa along with a troop of professional entertainers, the 2005 Holiday Train will be making three stops in the Toronto area this weekend.

On Saturday at 9 p.m., the train will pull into Bowmanville, about 45 km east of Toronto, on Sunday at 5 p.m. it will stop in Toronto and later, at 8 p.m., it stops in Hamilton.

If you'd like to combine the the outdoor show with an out of town drive, head east to Bowmanville and bring a donation of cash or non-perishable food.

At 9 p.m., the train -- lit up like a Christmas tree -- pulls up to a level crossing,just off the main street. A CPR crew quickly throws up a pre-fab stage at the door of a freight car with lights and a sound system.

Paul Thurston, Toronto CPR public affairs manager, welcomes everybody, including Clarington Mayor John Mutton and local Salvation Army members who are there to receive donations to the food bank.

Celtic singers the Ennis Sisters and country crooner Tracey Brown entertain while Santa Claus circulates among the kids. The performers travel in old-time private cars at the end of the freight train, heated and lit by a diesel generator unit. Local performers sometimes join them at various stops.

Since its launch at the end of 1999, the CPR Christmas train has collected about 378 tons of food and taken in more than $1.9 million for food banks. Everything goes to a food bank in the community where it's collected.

Actually there are two Holiday Trains. The one through Eastern Ontario, Bowmanville, Toronto and Hamilton goes on to cross the U.S. border at Windsor and to visit communities along CPR lines in the U.S. Midwest.

In Toronto, this train stops at the railway bridge on Yonge St., south of St.Clair Ave., at 5 p.m. on Sunday, where they will be greeted by Mayor David Miller and representatives from the Daily Bread Food Bank. The Hamilton stop at 8 p.m. is at the Kinnear Yard, opposite Gage Park.

Another Holiday Train starts at Montreal, follows the CPR trans-Canada line through Ottawa, North Bay, Sudbury and Winnipeg to stop at more than 60 communities before ending up at Port Moodie, B.C.

For schedules and more on the Holiday Trains, check out www8.cpr.ca/go/holidaytrain or call 1-800-766-7912.

To get to the Bowmanville stop, take Hwy. 401 east to Exit 431 at Waverley Rd. At the end of the exit ramp, go left then left again onto Waverley, which becomes Regional Road 57. Get onto R.R. 57 and stay on it to Hwy. 2. Go right on Hwy. 2, go under a railway underpass to Old Scugog Rd. Go left on this road a short distance to a railway crossing where the Holiday Train stops.

Free parking lots are nearby.

The CPR's Holiday Train leaves Montreal on its way to various stops in North America.