On Santa’s annual sojourn away from the North Pole, his favorite pas­times are lis­ten­ing to children’s gift wishes and sat­is­fy­ing his pas­sion for vin­tage trains. Lucky for us his December sched­ule prior to Christmas includes Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday after­noons rid­ing the rails of the Verde Canyon Railroad’s Santa Claus Express. Eagle-decorated FP7 engines pull coaches filled with glee­ful pas­sen­gers away from the sta­tion at 1:00 p.m. for a round trip through the won­der­land of Verde Canyon to the old Perkinsville Ranch, return­ing at about 5:00 p.m.