The weekend of December 16th, 2023 I spent time chasing the Steam Railroading Institute’s Pere Marquette 1225 with fellow railfan Bryan Burton, Dak Dillon and Brian Caswell, along with many others on their last weekend of the season running this great locomotive! It was their version of a Polar Express train and while this wasn’t a photo charter like my Colorado trip, we still had plenty of opportunities to capture it in action. It was a quick, but great trip and below are a few of my favorite images from the weekend. Click here to see more!
Pere Marquette 1225 prepares to pull onto the turntable to start their day North Pole Express excursions between Owosso and the Village of Ashley Country Christmas in Michigan, on December 17th, 2023. While I’d normally shoot this scene as a RAW file on my Nikon D810, on this day I was concentrating on video and drone shots. Still, I think my iPhone 14 Pro held up pretty good, all things considered!
Steam Railroading Institute’s Pere Marquette 1225 pulls off the turntable at Owosso, Michigan, as it prepares for a day of pulling the North Pole Express to Ashley, Michigan on December 16th, 2023.
Steam Railroading Institute’s Pere Marquette 1225 passes the Carland Elevator at Carland, Michigan, as they run their last North Pole Express passenger train between Owosso and to the Village of Ashley, Michigan, for their Ashley Country Christmas, on December 17th, 2023. This is considered one of the top locations to photograph the train and thanks to Scott Shields, who set up his lights, we were able to capture the scene at night! The only thing missing was the snow!
An early morning view of Steam Railroading Institute’s Pere Marquette 1225 as it sits on the turntable at Owosso, Michigan. It was being serviced by crews before it backed up to the ash pit in preparation for another day of pulling the North Pole Express between Owosso and Ashley, Michigan, along the Great Lakes Railroad on December 17th, 2023.
An early morning top-down view of Steam Railroading Institute’s Pere Marquette 1225 as it sits on the turntable at Owosso, Michigan. It was being serviced by crews before it backed up to the ash pit in preparation for another day of pulling the North Pole Express between Owosso and Ashley, Michigan, along the Great Lakes Railroad.
