Traditions of trains for Christmas are time-honored for some in the New Iberia community.

Last week, The Daily Iberians “Do You Remember” story on trains around the tree caught the attention of Jady Regard, who still enjoys having a train under his Christmas tree, something he has been doing for about 14 years now.

Regard serves as the CNO at the Cane River Pecan Company in New Iberia and was setting up the train with his 8-year-old nephew Emil Mourain when he came across the story. Regard himself has a unique story regarding the origin of his toy train under the tree.

After a lucky trip to the Cypress Bayou Casino, Regard passed through a train store in Broussard at the time and with a few extra dollars in his pocket, he decided to poke around to see what they had, since he had one of his own when he was a kid.

“I saw this Polar Express train,” Regard said. “I said, ‘You know, I’m going to get this train.’”

The train he purchased, a Lionel Electric O Gauge model train set, cost him $400 dollars at the time but he said it was money well spent, especially since it still makes its daily trips around his tree each Christmas holiday.

“Every year we put it under the tree,” Regard said. “It’s pretty cool and we’ve been doing it for years.

Growing up in the 70s, Regard, now in his 50s, thinks nostalgia and tradition is what has kept the train on the track for families.

“I think going to stores and seeing trains and seeing the movie ‘Polar Express,’ helped,” Regard said. “There’s just something nostalgic about it.”