A train loaded with donated toys and pulled by railroads that volunteer their own cars and crews is rolling toward Hawthorne again this holiday season, marking the nonprofit effort’s 17th holiday season. Operation Toy Train is scheduled to make its Hawthorne, New Jersey stop on Dec. 12, 2026, according to the seed facts behind this report.
A 17-Season Tradition Returns to the Rails
As reported by TAPinto Hawthorne, this year's campaign will roll along the rails for its 17th holiday season, gathering donated toys for the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation and other local civic organizations that help underprivileged children. The tradition dates back to 2009, and according to operationtoytrain.org, the trains have run every year since then except in 2020. Multiple railroads and their personnel donate their time, equipment and the use of their tracks to the effort each year, the organization notes, and the collected toys get delivered to local Toys for Tots campaigns or other civic groups for redistribution as holiday gifts in the communities where they're collected.
This season's operation is a sprawling one. Collection trains are set to operate over more than 480 miles on 10 different railroads, which donate railcars, personnel and time to keep the toy drive running, per the seed facts behind this report. Operation Toy Train plans collections in 69 cities and towns across five states this year, running from Nov. 14 through Dec. 13, 2026, with a goal of collecting over 50,000 donated toys.
Hawthorne's Stop on a Busy Local Route
The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway is handling a cluster of New Jersey stops this season, including Rochelle Park, Hawthorne, Midland Park, Wyckoff, Franklin Lakes, Oakland, Pompton Lakes, Butler, Newfoundland, Sparta, Franklin and Vernon, according to the seed facts. A similar version of that route appeared last year, when WRNJ reported that a Dec. 13 run hosted by the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway included stops in Rochelle Park, Paterson and Hawthorne.
Hawthorne has a track record with the program. The town's fire department has turned out for the train in past years — on Dec. 13, 2025, members welcomed Santa and his team into town and helped load up the donated gifts, according to hawthornefire.org. A year earlier, on Dec. 14, 2024, all five of Hawthorne's fire companies and the chief turned out to support the train, the fire department's site notes.
How To Donate — And Where the Toys Go
People hoping to contribute don't have to wait for train day. Local business and organizational partners set up large toy collection boxes from October through December, and those unable to make it to a stop in person are encouraged to drop off new toys in their original packaging at those collection points beforehand, per operationtoytrain.org. Organizers ask that donated toys be new and left unwrapped. Attendees who do make it out to a stop can expect town- and business-sponsored activities, a chance to meet Santa Claus, views of historic railroad equipment and the opportunity to meet program members, according to the seed facts.
The program is operated by TOYX, Inc., described on its own site as a New York 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The group invites businesses, organizations and individuals to sponsor, donate or otherwise participate in the effort, which uses funds for toy collection operations and the upkeep of its specialized railroad equipment, per the seed facts.
Last Year's Haul Shows the Scale of the Effort
Just how big does this get? In 2025, the trains made 71 stops in 68 towns across five states and collected a grand total of 65,426 toys, according to operationtoytrain.org's results page. The single largest one-day, one-run collection that year brought in 24,347 toys. Carolyn Hoffman, speaking to PennLive, said the program has grown tremendously since it started in 2009, but added that its purpose has always remained the same.
Elsewhere on the 2026 route, Pennsylvania stops are scheduled for Dec. 6 in Lackawaxen, Shohola and Susquehanna, and Dec. 7 in Oxford, West Grove, Avondale, Toughkenamon and Kennett Square, PennLive reported, part of eight total Pennsylvania stops among the 69 towns planned this season. In Sussex County, the Sparta Train Station has been an annual stop since 2016, and more than 2,000 toys were dropped off there in 2025 alone, with over 8,000 collected at that single location since the tradition began, according to lifeinsussex.com.
