Pere Marquette 1225

Pere Marquette 1225 is an N-1 class 2-8-4 "Berkshire" type steam locomotive built in October 1941 by the Lima Locomotive Works for the Pere Marquette Railway (PM) in Lima, Ohio. No. 1225 is one of two surviving PM 2-8-4 locomotives, the other being 1223, which was on display at the Tri-Cities Historical Society near the ex-Grand Trunk Western (GTW) coaling tower in Grand Haven, Michigan, and both have the distinction of being the only surviving Pere Marquette steam locomotive left in preservation. No. 1225 was well known to be the basis for the locomotive used in the 2004 film The Polar Express, earning itself the nickname "the real Polar Express".

The PM used No. 1225 in regular service from the locomotive's construction in 1941 until the railroad merged into the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) in 1947; It remained in use on C&O's Michigan lines until 1951. Avoiding the scrapyard, No. 1225 was acquired by Michigan State University in 1957 and put on static display.

In 1969, a group of students took an interest in No. 1225, and in 1971, the Michigan State University Railroad Club was formed and began work to restore it to operational status, an effort that culminated with its first excursion run in 1988. The locomotive, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is now operated by the Steam Railroading Institute for use in excursion service on the Great Lakes Central Railroad based out of Owosso. No. 1225 will also eventually run alongside Chicago and North Western 175, which is presently being restored to operating condition.

No. 1225 is an N-1 class 2-8-4 steam locomotive built in October 1941 by Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio (LLW) at a cost of $200,000 for the Pere Marquette Railway (PM).^[1] The PM ordered this wheel arrangement type in three different locomotive classes from Lima: class N in 1937 (Nos. 1201–1215),^[3] class N-1 in 1941 (Nos. 1216–1227),^[4] and class N-2 in 1944 (Nos. 1228–1239).^[5]

The 1200s remained on the roster through the PM's merger into the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1947; class N were renumbered to 2685–2699, class N-1 to 2650–2661, and class N-2 to 2670–2681. Part of the merger agreement, however, included the stipulation that locomotives that were acquired and fully paid for by PM would remain painted after the merger. Although all the Berkshires received new numbers, only class N engines were repainted into the standard C&O livery and renumbered. The majority of the class N locomotives were scrapped between 1954 and 1957 with the exception of two.^[1]

For the first part of its service life, No. 1225 was used to shuttle steel and wartime freight between Detroit, Saginaw, Flint and northern Indiana steel mills.^[1] In 1951, the C&O began to dieselize the Pere Marquette division and retired most of the N class locomotives, including No. 1225, which was stored out of service in Wyoming, Michigan, along with its sister locomotives Nos. 1207 and 1228, awaiting their fate.^[6][7]

In 1955, Forest Akers, the Michigan State University trustee and the former VP of Dodge Motors, 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 locomotives 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. Akers proposed the idea to the university's president John Hannah, who accepted the gift of No. 1225. 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. Hannah then called up Dr. Rollin Baker, director of the MSU Museum and told him that he was getting a locomotive.^[8] The C&O then instructed the yardmaster at New Buffalo to send one to the Wyoming Shops for a cosmetic restoration and repainting with the name Chesapeake and Ohio on the side. Lighted number boards were added as was the standard for C&O engines, though the PM never used them. Eventually, the Michigan State Trust for Railway Preservation, operating at the Steam Railway Institute, decided to remove these. No. 1225 was the last engine in the line, i.e. easiest to get out.^[9]

Baker received the gift of No. 1225 in June 1957 when it was brought to campus.^[1] The locomotive remained on static display near Spartan Stadium on the Michigan State campus in East Lansing, Michigan for more than a decade.^[1] While on display, a child by the name of Chris Van Allsburg used to stop by No. 1225 on football weekends, on his way to the game with his father. He later stated that the engine was the inspiration for his 1985 book, The Polar Express.^[1]

During the time that Akers was alive until 1966, money was allocated by the university to paint and display the engine.^[10] In 1969, a group of students formed the MSU Railroad Club as a railfan group. Steve Reeves, a student and part-time employee of the museum, whose responsibility was to display No. 1225 on football weekends, sent out a notice in the State News that the Railroad Club would be meeting. Those early meetings did not discuss the restoration of No. 1225. Instead, they were slideshows of locomotives various members had seen on trips across the US, most of which were diesels. In 1970, at the suggestion of Randy Paquette, the club investigated the possibility of restoring No. 1225 to running condition and started on that goal in 1971, with Dr. Baker's permission. Dr. Baker later stated that he thought having students be occupied with restoring a locomotive was far more in keeping with his idea of the image the university should be presenting than campus protests.^[1] Jack Breslin, the university vice president, was not so sure. After the club started removing the sheet metal and exposing a rusty boiler, Breslin sent Baker to the engine with two messages. The first was the instruction to paint No. 1225 (which needs to look good, even when it is being worked on). The second message was the day the students stop working on the locomotive is the day the torches come out. No. 1225 was safe as long as the students kept working on it. To emphasize, they had the hopper car next to it cut up for scrap the next week.^[1]

The students fired up the boiler in 1975 and sounded No. 1225's whistle for the first time in two decades. The MSU Railroad Club looked to No. 1223 at the State Fairgrounds for parts.^[1] The Detroit Model Railroad Club, then custodians of that engine, objected, so needed parts were fabricated. As of today, No. 1223 is on static display in a lakeside park in Grand Haven, Michigan.

In 1976, Chuck Julian talked to Dr. Baker about No. 1225. He asked Baker if he understood what members were asking in 1970, when they said that they wanted to restore the locomotive. Baker said that he fully understood. He thought that he would rather students be known for being involved in restoring a locomotive than known for protesting the war.^[1]

In 1977, Dr. Edgar Harden became the university's interim president. Chuck Julian, as president of the MSU Railroad Club, went to his reception and made an appointment to see him. Chuck Julian asked Dr. Harden about the No 1225's future. The club had fired up the locomotive, and it was nearing operability. Julian told Harden that after eight years of working on No. 1225, they had no assurances from the university that they would be able to run the locomotive. Harden stated that they would not be able to run it. Dr. Harden said that the university was not interested in running a steam locomotive and if it was, it would be run by university employees and for that matter, the university was not interested in owning a steam locomotive. He said that if the MSU Railroad Club wanted to run No. 1225, it should form a 501(c)(3) corporation and then he would give them the locomotive.^[1]

In that meeting, Harden told Julian that the university was closing the Shaw Lane Power Plant and planned to pull up the tracks. The railroad had informed the university that it did not want to maintain a switch on a line not being used. With no switch, there was no need to keep the track. If the club wanted to be able to get No. 1225 off the display track and onto the mainline, it needed to move it soon. Dr. Harden gave the MSURRC permission to connect the display track to the siding and move the engine over to a part of the track near the police station, with the provision that the club provide a bond, remove the fence, stairs and all of its belongings from the display site, then tear up the track put down along with the display track. The club also had to repair the sidewalk that it needed to go through after it was done and generally clean up the site.^[1]

Colin Williams, the owner of the Williams Brothers Asphalt Paving Co. in Ionia, Michigan, provided the club with a surety bond, a dump truck, a front-end loader and a bulldozer plus operators to run the equipment which was used to build the grade. Club members then tore up the track next to No. 1225 and laid it down behind it. The locomotive was then rolled down the tracks. Julian, Dave Jones, an equipment operator from the company (Dick Grieves), and a group of Hmong refugees who volunteered their time, then spent the next three days with the Williams Brothers' equipment restoring the site, including casting a new concrete sidewalk. The company sent a grader from Ionia to fine grade the site after they were done with the bulk cleanup, including loading debris into the dump truck and rails onto a flatbed and hauling all of it to Ionia.^[1]

Harden said that if the railroad club could find another place on campus that was suitable, it could move No. 1225 to it. He assigned Ted Simmons of the physical plant, along with the head of the Landscape Arts Department, the task of working with Julian to find a place on campus. Simmons was not willing to give up a siding at Power Plant 65 for No. 1225. The club would need to build one if the locomotive wanted one. The club would not be able to build a cheap structure. If the club or later the trust wanted one, it would need to be built by contractors after the university approved the design.^[1] This was beyond the financial capability of the club. No. 1225 was rolled down the track, off campus and behind the Quality Dairy store on Trowbridge Road. The club and supporters of "Project 1225" formed the Michigan State Trust for Railway Preservation in 1978. Chuck Julian, then president of the club, became the Trust's first president. Soon after, the MSTRP was given ownership of No. 1225, by the MSU.

Club members and the new Trust's members began looking for a new site. The Ann Arbor Railroad had gone bankrupt at the time and the state of Michigan became the owner of its assets. Hank Londo, a member of the club, spoke to his state senator and arranged for the new MSTRP to lease the former AAR engine shop in Owosso. After completing work on No. 1225's lead truck axle, the locomotive itself, the Railway Post Office car, and all of the club's equipment were moved to Owosso. This was a great place to move because the engine shop had a lot of equipment that would be useful in restoring No. 1225.^[1]

On November 30, 1985, No. 1225 was restored and moved again under its own power for the first time since its retirement in 1951.^[1][11] The first excursion service occurred in 1988 on a 17-mile trip between Owosso and St. Charles, Michigan. In August 1991, No. 1225, along with Nickel Plate Road No. 765, pulled a 31-car passenger train during the National Railway Historical Society's annual convention in Huntington, West Virginia.^[1][a]

The Trust started using the name "Steam Railroading Institute" because it was thought that this name better represented the goals of the organization. The official name is still the MSTRP. The SRI name is registered as a DBA (Doing Business As) with the State of Michigan.^[1]

No. 1225 attended the Train Festival^[14] in Owosso in 2009 from July 23–26 as part of a fundraiser to raise money for the locomotive's upcoming 2010-2013 FRA overhaul. The national event showcased hundreds of train related items, events, and themes from around the country and some parts of the world. No. 1225 was not able to haul any excursions during the festival due to five of its flues failing, which occurred on July 24. No. 1225 was on display during the rest of the festival for people to visit it, chat with the crew, take photos, and explore its cab. On October 7, 2008, it was announced that No. 765 would once again join No. 1225 at Train Festival, marking the first time the two Berkshires have met each other since after 18 years.^[1] Southern Pacific No. 4449 also attended the festival as one of the many attending engines along with the Berkshires. Nos. 1225 and 765 met up twice more that year, with a photo freight in August and an excursion in October.

The flue failing was later repeated on December 5 of that year, so in January 2010, No. 1225 went down for its required 15-year inspection, and it was found that the firebox sheets had deteriorated to the point of needing replacement. That program was largely completed through small and large donations of funds and labor by the organization's supporters. Approximately $900,000 had spent on No. 1225's FRA overhaul.^[1]

On October 20, 2013, the locomotive was fired up for a test run and moved again for the first time since 2009. It will run again for another 15 years until 2028 when its next overhaul work is due.^[1]

As of 2014, No. 1225 operates excursion trains over the Great Lakes Central Railroad (formally Tuscola and Saginaw Bay Railway) several times per year, including operations that leave Owosso and going to cities such as Alma, Clare, Mt. Pleasant, and Cadillac in Michigan. Since 2004, No. 1225 has hauled winter weekend excursions to Ashley between Thanksgiving and the middle of December, due to copyright issues, as the "North Pole Express".^[1]

In 2021, No. 1225 had its lead truck axle, trailing truck axles, and tender trucks upgraded with roller bearings.^[15] In 2022, the locomotive went under a significant overhaul to its wheels and running gear with assistance from FMW Solutions.^[16] In late 2023, No. 1225 went back into service with a new dual-beam headlight, a digital thermocouple, a second Nathan mechanical lubricator from NKP No. 757, along with a temperature sensor and alarm systems for the crew to monitor the brass and bearing boxes.^[17] In 2024, No. 1225 would haul some summer and fall excursions until being sidelined for the rest of the season due to issues with the superheaters, necessitating diesel locomotives to haul the rest of the excursions.^[18]

In 2002, Warner Bros. was given copies of No. 1225's blueprints, saved from oblivion and donated to the MSURRC by Hank Truer, which were the prototype for the locomotive image, and its sounds were used in the 2004 Christmas film The Polar Express, directed by Robert Zemeckis. However, the whistle used in the film was provided by famed Sierra No. 3 from Back to the Future Part III, which was also directed by Zemeckis (although the first whistle heard is that of 1225). The film was based on the Caldecott Medal winning book of the same name. The children's book was written and illustrated by Van Allsburg, as a child, attended every home football game at Michigan, next to which No. 1225 was on static display. He recalls playing on this engine many times saying, "I remember that train on campus, ...I can't believe it's the same train! I climbed on that train. I actually stood on it.".^[19] Appropriately enough, the locomotive's road number is the date of Christmas Day: 12/25.

Some people claim that No. 1225 was picked out by the railroad to give to the MSU because of that reason. Julian, in speaking to Sam Chidester and Herschal Christiansen, had it revealed to him that the engine was chosen because it was the last engine on the line at New Buffalo, waiting to be scrapped. It was the easiest one to get out. The number was not a consideration at all. Phil Gary, the brakeman who accompanied No. 1225 to campus, confirmed the story.

No. 1225 and other locomotives on the scrap line, sat there for many years after the PM had stopped running steam. This was because the railroad could not scrap the locomotives until the liens to Detroit Bank and Trust (later to become known as Comerica), were paid off and removed.

• New York Central 3001
• Nickel Plate Road 759
• Chesapeake and Ohio 2716
• Chicago and North Western 175 - 1225's current stablemate
• Grand Trunk Western 6325

• Keefe, Kevin (2016). Twelve Twenty-Five: The Life and Times of a Steam Locomotive (1st ed.). Michigan State University Press. ISBN 978-1-61186-202-7.
• Million, Arthur B.; Dixon, Jr., Thomas W. (1984). Pere Marquette Power (1st ed.). The Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society, Inc. ISBN 0-87012-472-2.

• Gaffney, T.J.; Pyers, Dean (2014). Pere Marquette 1225. Images of Rail (1st ed.). Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4671-1282-6.

• Steam Railroading Institute - official website of Pere Marquette 1225.