Riding the Electric Sleigh: How One Chicago Photographer Turned the Holiday Train Into a Five-Year Love Letter to the City

Daniel Moreno didn’t go looking for a winter tradition to chase. It found him instead, hissing into a frozen platform like some neon comet stitched together from peppermint stripes and CTA steel. For five years, he followed Chicago’s Holiday Train through the city’s arteries, letting its glow guide him across Loop trestles, into wind-battered stations, and through neighborhoods wrapped in frost and streetlight.

What started as a simple photograph became a pilgrimage. A way of honoring his city. A way of proving that even in the hardest months, Chicago still hums with warmth if you know where to aim the lens.

The Holiday Train isn’t just a seasonal stunt. It’s the city cracking a grin. It’s transit workers decking rail cars in thousands of lights, Santa waving from a flatcar throne, families chasing platforms like they’re chasing miracles. And Moreno documents all of it with the intensity of someone who understands that traditions aren’t just observed — they’re preserved.

His images capture the moment the train slices through the Loop, lighting sparks off glass towers. They capture bundled-up commuters snapping out of their winter trance as color erupts across the tracks. They capture the quiet corners too: snow drifting over the Brown Line, a lone rider smiling into the glow, the city remembering itself.

Moreno’s new book, Chicago’s Holiday Train, turns this obsession into something permanent. Part love letter, part time capsule, it’s built for locals who crave a hit of nostalgia, transit geeks who worship rolling stock, and anyone who needs proof that beauty doesn’t wait for perfect moments. Sometimes it arrives on rails, jingling through the cold.

In a world that often feels like it’s rushing past us, Moreno reminds us to look up. Look out. Look for the color in the gray. Because in Chicago, magic doesn’t hide — it arrives right on schedule.

For more Stories From The 78, follow @tombarnas78 on Instagram and @storiesfromthe78 on TikTok.