For over 20 years, the Kettle Valley Steam Railway has been putting on a Christmas train, and they kicked off their most recent sold-out season Thursday night. 

The steam-powered train had to be warmed up for two days in preparation for its busy 10 days leading up to Christmas Eve. It has been decorated with holiday lights and will be running twice a day from now until December 23, taking about 120 people on each ride. 

"We simply can't put on enough trains to satisfy the demand, we put on as many as we can with the days we have and the crews we have, and they always sell out," said Gerry Conrad, secretary of the KVR Society. 

This year's tickets have been sold out for over a month. The hour-long train journey features views of the Summerland valley and local light displays, as well as special guests on board. 

"It's dark outside the whole run, so it's an inside-the-train experience," Conrad said. "All the magic of being inside a train lit up with Christmas lights. The gentleman in the big red suit makes an appearance with his friend, and they meet all the kids."

Roberta Graham, a 104-year-old woman, and her elderly friend Audrey Ross were on the first Christmas train of the 2018 season Thursday. Graham said she's been riding it for three years now, but for Ross, it was a first. 

"It was lovely, it was very nice!" Ross said. "I've just arrived in Penticton a year ago. It was a wonderful night."

Eastyn, a young girl, got off the train with a huge grin on her face, saying she had seen Santa and told him what she wanted for Christmas. 

"It's a secret," she said with a smile, when asked what she had wished for. 

Over 2,000 guests will ride the Christmas train in the next week and a half, a significant portion of the overall 30,000 the steam train sees during an entire year. Even so, plenty of people were left disappointed this season, missing out on tickets.

"We know that there's lots more folks that would like to ride the train than we're able to accommodate. We're going to work on that," Conrad said.