Frank Kotnik’s enthusiasm for toy trains began when he received his first Lionel train set as a child in the 1960s. In 2015, while visiting the Railroad Museum of Long Island with his son, Kotnik was impressed by the museum’s boxcar fundraiser featuring commemorative cars for various companies and organizations. A member of Msgr. Sherman Council 5103 in Queens, New York, Kotnik immediately thought of his council’s Keep Christ in Christmas program.
“Keep Christ in Christmas was always very important to me, and as I was talking to the museum director, I thought, ‘This would be a great idea to create a Christmas fundraiser,’” Kotnik explained. “I promoted the idea to my council. Don Fisher, the museum director, guided me through the process, and I went and designed the first one.”
The council released its first design in 2018 and in the years since, the boxcars have remained a cherished part of the council’s fundraising efforts.
“All I wanted was to produce one; since 2018, we’ve produced 12 designs,” Kotnik said. “These are the Lionel trains that most kids got back in the ’50s, the ’60s and the ’70s and they’re manufactured by Lionel exclusively for the Knights of Columbus.”
Kotnik is an innovator by nature. During his career as a blacksmith for the New York City Department of Transportation, he designed and manufactured sign brackets and fencing for use throughout the city, including more than 100 brackets along Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, which hold the iconic national medallions lining “The Avenue of the Americas.”
In the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, Kotnik not only worked overtime to build and install signs rerouting traffic around the destruction but also volunteered at Ground Zero, working through the night to cut steel for removal.
While Christmas has been the main focus of the council’s boxcar initiative, Kotnik’s enthusiasm led him to explore additional designs commemorating major K of C milestones, including a boxcar celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Order’s Patriotic Fourth Degree earlier this year.
When the original 125th anniversary boxcar sold out quickly, Council 5103 commissioned a second design to commemorate the anniversary celebration held on Feb. 22, 2025, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.
“When I got the call to design the Fourth Degree edition, it could have been less than two hours and I already had the rough draft ready,” said Kotnik.
The Lionel O-gauge boxcar measures 2.25 inches, and features images from the first Patriotic Degree on Feb. 22, 1900, as well as from the 2025 exemplification at St. Patrick’s.
Kotnik and fellow council members presented a prototype of the boxcar to Supreme Master Michael McCusker, a fellow train enthusiast, in June. Council 5103 then promoted the train, collecting orders for a shipment to be delivered to customers in time for Christmas.
Over the years, Kotnik’s other designs have included boxcars commemorating the beatification of Blessed Michael McGivney in 2020, the 1954 addition of “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance, and the 140th anniversary of the Order in 2022.
Every penny raised from the boxcars is donated to Knights of Columbus Charities. The council has sold nearly 2,200 cars in total, raising more than $37,000 in support of numerous causes, including the Order’s Persecuted Christians Fund, Ukraine Solidarity Fund and various disaster relief efforts, as well as Special Olympics.
“Over half the money has gone to the Christian Refugee Relief; that has been our primary focus,” said Ken Engesser, council treasurer. “That was always the vision of this project — that our primary function would be to sell trains throughout the United States to give back to a global need supported by the Order.”
Engesser said the program is an excellent example of inviting members to use their creativity and personal interests in service of charity.
“It’s unique, and it’s outside of what you might normally see the Knights of Columbus doing,” said Engesser. “It’s a message to other councils, who can ask their members, ‘What are your hobbies? What do you like and enjoy?’ Maybe there are other people out there of a similar mind, and you could tap into that.”
As long as the orders keep coming, Kotnik has many ideas for branching out and making other event-themed boxcars. Among them is a particular design that anticipates the hope and prayer of every Knight: the canonization of Blessed Michael McGivney. “I already have that boxcar designed,” he said. “So, if that happens, I’ll be ready.”
To learn more about Council 5103’s boxcars or to make a purchase, visit kofc5103.org/trains.