Saturday December 3rd was the day me and a few friends chased the Pere Marquette 2-8-4 Berkshire #1225 from Owosso to Cheasning on the Polar Express! Enjoy these shots!
1225 sitting in the Steam Railroading Institute/ Tisby yard.
1225, after moving down the stub end track to load it’s passengers, breaths steam and smoke into the extremely cold morning air.
After leaving the yard and running a few miles north, 1225 picks up speed as she aproaches the first crossing we caught her at.
Perhaps my favorite shot I ever took, 1225 tunders by in a cadence of smoke, steam, and power. It helped that there was snow on the ground, it only added to the awesomeness of the chase.
1225 at another crossing.
Notice how once they clear the crossings they stop making all that smoke. They must do it just so us railfans can get nice shots. Thanks 1225 crew.
Shrouded in steam, 1225 simmers at the fair grounds after a sucessful run.
Awesome!
The TSBY 2681, a high hood GP35, followed the train up and would pull it back to Owosso.
What fun to see the 1225 in Winter action. Thank you for posting these.
Here in Portland, we have a weekend coming up where both SP 4449 and SP&S 700 will be in action. I can’t believe we will have that much steam action, but I sure enjoy seeing the Pere Marquette engine.
Thanks for the kind words everyone! It was the best weekend of railfanning I ever did and it was my first time seeing a steamer bigger than a 4-4-0 in action.
As for the GP35 with Alco trucks, every TSBY (Tuscola & Saginaw Bay RR) GP35 has them. Infact, except for an NW2, every locomotive TSBY has is a GP35! 7 are ex Ann Arbor low nose units that have Alco trucks and traction motors from the FAs that were used as trade-in credit at EMD. The two remaining high nose 35s (they originally had 4) are ex Southern and I’m unsure as to how they got their Alco trucks.
Very nice touch with those photos. And the engine seems to be a perennial favourite with the steam crowd…nice lines. Your best shot, in my opinion, is the one entering the crossing. I hope you are good and proud of that one! [tup][tup]
Again guys, many thanks. The 1225 doesn’t run that much. Maybe 3 times a year and then the roughly 8 Polar Express runs in January. Glad I could catch her. She was supposed to come to Grand Rapids (my town) last year for the movie premier of the Polar Express, but CSX said no!
The TSBY #385 picture that you published, is one that I was on, and took pictures of. The only problem is, I can’t find my library of RR photos since I moved. They still may be at the storage unit. I may also be able to post it, in it’s original colors. I used to live in Howell MI, and the TSBYs track ran right through town. I don’t know if they did it with all of the Loco’s, but where they could, they kept the same ID Numbers after the repaint.
You seem to know a lot about the TSBY. Where do you live??? I could see the trains go by, down at the end of my street. (In Howell) Some times there would be as high as six Loco’s on one train hauling covered hoppers. They move a lot of hoppers. They’re also a great bunch of guys as well.
I concur 100%.
The TSBY would be an excellent choice for a bedroom layout. It’s a well run short line.
Very cool! The 385 was the first TSBY engine I saw. Actually, I live in Grand Rapids and railfan CSX, but I railfan TSBY a lot when I go up to Traverse City for a week every summer. Very cool railroad, really friendly crews, too!
I agree 100%. The Tisby would be a very cool RR to model. You’d have to modify a bunch of GP35s with Alco trucks, although Athearn just released a new run of RTR GP35s in Ann Arbor and in another road that has Alco trucks.
