Chasing Pere Marquette 1225

As a train-obsessed kid, the Polar Express was of particular interest to me. I had the original picture book, and I went to see the movie when it came out in theaters. However, I've never been to see the real thing. Several "heritage" or "tourist" railroads run trains in the wintertime themed to the kids' book, and several use steam locomotives, but the North Pole Express run by the Steam Railroading Institute up in Owosso, MI is special, as it features the locomotive that (allegedly) inspired the appearance of the locomotive in the book.

You can read the full story on SRI's website, but essentially 1225 was on static display near Spartan Stadium on Michigan State University's campus for several decades, where a young Chris Van Allsburg - author/illustrator of the Polar Express book - saw it whenever he attended MSU football games as a kid, so when he went to illustrate the book, he pictured that locomotive. When Warner Bros. made the movie, they also sent a crew up to Owosso to record sounds from the prototype, and study engineering drawings to base their 3D model in the movie on. Oh, and the number 1225, which is the date of Christmas, is a complete coincidence; 1225 just happened to be the last on the line for scrapping, and thus easiest to cut off when it was donated to MSU.

I've lived in Michigan now for a little over 10 years, but despite that I'd never made the trip up to see 1225 operate. On December 20th, I changed that.

The Chase Begins

A friend (shoutout Ale!) and I headed up to Owosso very early Saturday morning. I originally intended to head right to a crossing to catch the train, but we got there with enough time to poke around Owosso first, and I'm glad we did. Parking was hard to come by with all the actual passengers taking up space nearest the Steam Railroading Institute, but we settled near a defunct rail depot, (which we would revisit later in the day). I got some shots of that, and 1225 with her consist at rest.

The First Crossing

Prior to making the trip, I consulted a rail map (specifically, Rail Guide, one of my favorite sources next to OpenRailwayMap) to determine the best crossing to get a good view of the train. I'd decided on a crossing at Riley Road near Carland, MI. After getting some shots of the train in Owosso, my friend and I headed there.

On our way, we passed the Carland grain elevator, which was absolutely swamped with railfans looking to get a good shot. I don't blame 'em, it makes for a great scene:

While my shots may not have been quite as visually interesting, I'm proud of the ones I got at Riley Road. At the very least, it was easier to find a good angle without a massive crowd.

Crossing #2

Initially, those were the only shots I was planning to get, but something within me called me to give chase to the train, so my friend and I got back in the car and sped along country roads, following the smoke. Eventually we got ahead of it and pulled over so I could snap some more pics. These ones featured a lot of smoke and steam.

Also at this crossing, I got a better shot of the ex-Metra gallery car, painted up in the livery for MITrain, a never-realized commuter rail between Ann Arbor and Detroit. Plans began in 2009 with a study, and trains were supposed to be rolling in the mid 2010s or early 2020s, but since then the project has lost momentum (but apparently not officially canceled?) and the cars were sold to the Steam Railroading Institute and Nashville's WeGo Star commuter service.

"Urban Exploration"

After the chase, we headed back to Owosso (stopping at the Happy Hour Bar & Grill in Bannister, MI, a super charming smalltown haunt) to check out the town while waiting for the train to return from Owosso. We parked again at the old depot, and gave it a closer look. However, on this closer inspection, we noticed a door was ajar. We cautiously entered, and discovered this building was last used as an Elks Lodge. From some sleuthing online, it seems as though this lodge was last active in 2019; like many things, it appears COVID killed them.

Exploring Owosso

After our exploration of the abandoned depot, we checked out the rest of town. Owosso is a very charming little place, with some real hidden gems.

Saying Goodbye

1225 arrived back in town at around 2:30pm, at which point I got some more shots and we said our goodbyes to the locomotive.

One More Thing...

While in Owosso, we heard tell of a castle in town, so on our way out we thought we'd have a look. It was called Curwood Castle, after its builder and inhabitant, writer James Oliver Curwood. I'd never heard of him before, but apparently his work was quite popular in his day, rivaling that Jack London and other contemporaries. When we pulled up, the castle was smaller than I expected (apparently this was not his home, merely a writing studio), but still pretty cool. Nearby is a replica of a bridge that stood on that spot, and the home is decorated as a museum with some artifacts from Curwood and some exhibits about his life. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area!

Anyways, that's all I have for now. Thanks for coming along on this journey, and happy New Year! Here's hoping I can put more posts out on here.