The Spartan roots of the Polar Express

Posted on by farlane
Bannister Mi Polar Express by Charles Bonham

Bannister Mi Polar Express by Charles Bonham

I realize that I should add that although you can book tickets to ride the North Pole Express from Owosso, they sell out very early so I will try and shout this out earlier next year!!

The steam locomotive Pere Marquette 1225 was first used by the Pere Marquette Railway to transport products between Detroit, Toledo, Flint, Saginaw, Grand Rapids and Chicago for a decade before being retired in 1951 when the Railway merged with Chesapeake and Ohio Railway who favored diesel locomotives. It was then given to a reluctant Michigan State University where it sat for 25 years. Spartan Newsroom explains how Pere Marquette 1225 returned to service & became the inspiration for beloved children’s book The Polar Express:

The Pere Marquette 1225 sat untouched on MSU’s campus just south of Spartan Stadium until 1969, when a group of students took interest in the steam locomotive. Randy Paqueete, a Michigan State alum and then-member of the MSU Railroad Club, suggested that the group try to restore the engine instead of it just being on display.

The club’s first goal was to get the steam locomotive up and running to transport students to and from football games. “These students had some crazy ideas. We’re going to go to away football games. We’re going to go to Florida. We’re going to go to Aspen. We’re going to run charters,” Struck said. In 1975, after five years of work, the students were successful in firing up the boiler long enough to sound the whistle. This victory did not come easy, as they needed to put 245 pounds of steam pressure into a 400-ton boiler, which the university was nervous about.

“Ultimately, we got permission,” Paqueet recalled. “We jumped through a lot of hoops but we got licensed. We had to do it on a Sunday when there weren’t very many people on campus.”

The students started the fire for the boiler at 4 a.m., and by 8 a.m., the steam engine had enough pressure to sound the whistle. For the first time in two decades, the whistle of the Pere Marquette 1225 was heard, proving the restoration process on the locomotive to be a success.

The legacy of the Pere Marquette 1225 is not limited to MSU’s campus. Author Chris Van Allsburg, who wrote “The Polar Express” children’s book the animated movie was based on, was inspired by this same steam engine during his childhood. Growing up in Grand Rapids, Allsburg frequently visited MSU on the weekends for football games and would see the locomotive on display. When writing the book he remembered the steam engine he played on as a child, and the model number 1225, which also coincidentally represented Christmas Day. During production of the film, animators were given blueprints of the Pere Marquette 1225, allowing them to accurately recreate the train. They also made frequent visits to Owosso, Michigan, where the locomotive was eventually relocated, to record its authentic sound to use in the movie.

Here’s a few more shots by Charles of Pere Marquette 1225 from this year along with one of a photographer getting the shot that I shared back in 2018. For sure head over to Flickr to check out more in his Steam Engine, Railroad Photos gallery.

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Approaching Storm: the 1225 Polar Express

Posted on by farlane

Approaching Storm by Charles Bonham

Charles caught this shot of another photographer shooting the famous 1225 Polar Express, The 1225 is housed at the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso where every year it takes folks on North Pole Express rides during the holiday season. Wikipedia has the story of how the Pere Marquette 1225 locomotive became the Polar Express:

Retired from service in 1951, 1225 was sent to scrap, in New Buffalo, Michigan. In 1955, Michigan State University Trustee, Forest Akers was asked by C&O Chairman Cyrus Eaton if the University would be interested in having a steam locomotive (Eaton did not want to scrap the engines but was having a hard time finding places that would accept them) so that engineering students would have a piece of real equipment to study. Forest Akers thought it a good idea and proposed the idea to University President John Hannah. John Hannah accepted the gift of the locomotive.

When he told the Dean of the College of Engineering about the gift, the Dean said that Engineering was not interested in an obsolete locomotive. John Hannah then called up Dr. Rollin Baker, director of the MSU Museum and told him that he was getting a locomotive. The C&O then instructed the yardmaster at New Buffalo to send an engine to the Wyoming Shops for a cosmetic restoration and repainting with the name Chesapeake and Ohio on the side. The 1225 was the last engine in the line, i.e. easiest to get out. It had nothing to do with the number representing Christmas Day. Baker received the gift of the locomotive in 1957 when it was brought to campus. The locomotive remained on static display near Spartan Stadium on the Michigan State campus in East Lansing, Michigan for a decade.

 

While on display, a child by the name of Chris Van Allsburg used to stop by the locomotive on football weekends, on his way to the game with his father. He later stated that the engine was the inspiration for the story, Polar Express.

Lots more  information about riding the train and the rest of their collection at the Steam Railroading Institute and more about the book right here!

View Charles’ photo bigger on Flickr and see more in his Steam Engine, Railroad Photos album.

How Pere Marquette 1225 inspired the Polar Express

Posted on by farlane

Pere Marquette 1255

Pere Marquette 1225, photo by Bob Gudas

The Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso is home station for the Pere Marquette 1225 locomotive aka the Polar Express:

Retired from service in 1951, 1225 was sent to scrap, in New Buffalo, Michigan. In 1955, Michigan State University Trustee, Forest Akers was asked by C&O Chairman Cyrus Eaton if the University would be interested in having a steam locomotive (Eaton did not want to scrap the engines but was having a hard time finding places that would accept them) so that engineering students would have a piece of real equipment to study. Forest Akers thought it a good idea and proposed the idea to University President John Hannah. John Hannah accepted the gift of the locomotive. When he told the Dean of the College of Engineering about the gift, the Dean said that Engineering was not interested in an obsolete locomotive. John Hannah then called up Dr. Rollin Baker, director of the MSU Museum and told him that he was getting a locomotive. The C&O then instructed the yardmaster at New Buffalo to send an engine to the Wyoming Shops for a cosmetic restoration and repainting with the name Chesapeake and Ohio on the side. The 1225 was the last engine in the line, i.e. easiest to get out. It had nothing to do with the number representing Christmas Day.

Baker received the gift of the locomotive in 1957 when it was brought to campus. The locomotive remained on static display near Spartan Stadium on the Michigan State campus in East Lansing, Michigan for a decade. While on display, a child by the name of Chris Van Allsburg used to stop by the locomotive on football weekends, on his way to the game with his father. He later stated that the engine was the inspiration for the story, Polar Express.

Lots more about the Michigan’s largest operating steam locomotive at Wikipedia and information about riding the train and the rest of their collection at the Steam Railroading Institute.

View Bob’s photo bigger and see more in his slideshow.

Get your Polar Express aboard Pere Marquette 1225!

Posted on by farlane

Pere Marquette 1225

Pere Marquette 1225, photo by Mi Bob

Every year, the Steam Train Railroading Institute in Owosso operates an annual North Pole Express that takes you to the North Pole and back. Over on Absolute Michigan, The Polar Express Comes to Michigan from Michigan History Magazine explains that author Chris Van Allsburg his well-known children’s book, The Polar Express, on train experiences he had as a boy in Grand Rapids:

The book’s popularity led to a movie released in November 2004. Michigan railroad buffs recognize the sound of the movie’s train whistle, which comes from one of the nation’s few working steam locomotives.

Built in 1941, the Pere Marquette 1225 is an enormous steam locomotive, measuring one hundred feet long and sixteen feet high. Replaced in 1951 by a more efficient diesel engine, the 1225 was saved from the scrap heap and decades later, ended up in Owosso as the star of the Steam Railroading Institute (SRI). Shortly thereafter, the 1225 was restored to its former glory.

As researchers prepared the movie version of Van Allsburg popular book, they were drawn to Owosso and the 1225. Technicians recorded the sound of the whistle, the clatter of the wheels and the rumble of the four-hundred-ton locomotive rolling down the tracks. The sounds were merged with the animated Polar Express.

Check the photo out bigger and see more in Bob’s slideshow.

More trains on Michigan in Pictures and also check out the Pere Marquette 1225 slideshow in the Absolute Michigan pool!