For more than 40 years, Rudolph the Red Nosed Pumping Unit has been ushering in the holiday season in Lufkin.
This full size, LUFKIN Mark 640 oil pumping unit is a fully operational unit painted red especially for the season. Fully extended, the head reaches 45 feet high. There are more than 1,000, 7-watt lights on Rudolph, which takes an electrician about four days to install. It takes a crew two-and-a-half days to put Rudolph together at his holiday home on the Lufkin Mall parking lot.
Rudolph preceeds a 38-foot LUFKIN Ultralight dump trailer decorated with lights and extras so it resembles a sleigh. It holds a wooden cutout of Santa and presents.
The working pumping unit is dismantled after the holiday season, repainted and sold to a LUFKIN Industries customer to become a working pumping unit somewhere in the world. After the holidays, the trailer will be utilized by a LUFKIN customer to transport goods across the country.
"For 40 years our company has been giving this gift to the community. Through the years, the lighting ceremony has grown, and now it is the official kick-off to the holiday season for Angelina County,” according to Paul Perez, LUFKIN vice president/secretary. “We are proud to be able to bring such a timeless gift to our friends and neighbors."