A magical holiday train ride rooted in Spartan history
Before it became a beloved and famous holiday train, the Pere Marquette 1225 spent many years parked near Spartan Stadium at Michigan State University.
The imposing black steam engine captured the attention of countless passersby, including a young Chris Van Allsburg, who visited the campus as a child to attend MSU football games. Years later, those memories of the iconic locomotive inspired his award-winning children’s book, “The Polar Express.”
Since 1988, the Steam Railroading Institute has operated the North Pole Express, offering seasonal train rides pulled by the original Pere Marquette 1225 steam engine, fired up each year to make the journey from Owosso to Ashley, Michigan.
Here’s how the historical train was preserved and primed to bring holiday cheer to Michiganders of all ages.
From Pere Marquette to Polar Express
The Pere Marquette 1225 was built in 1941 and shuttled steel and wartime freight between Detroit, Saginaw, Flint and northern Indiana steel mills until it was retired in 1951.
The steam locomotive ended up in a scrap yard in New Buffalo until Forest Akers, an MSU trustee, campaigned for the engine to be donated to the university as a monument to the Age of Steam and as a subject of study for engineering students. But during this postwar era of innovation, there was limited interest in the locomotive. The Pere Marquette 1225 became a silent showpiece on campus, standing near Spartan Stadium from 1957 until 1985.
This is where, whenever a young Chris Van Allsburg came to MSU football games with his father, he climbed the black engine with its service number 1225 evoking Christmas Day. The author and illustrator of “The Polar Express” published the book in 1985 and, 20 years later, saw it made into an animated movie. The story plays on the excitement and wonder of childhood, magnified when a magical steam train stops outside a young boy’s house and its conductor invites him to journey to the North Pole alongside other children who are doubtful of Santa’s existence.
During the time the Pere Marquette could be admired on MSU’s campus, it underwent a long process of restoration. In 1969, a group of MSU students formed the university’s Railroad Club to preserve and restore the steam engine.
When Aarne Frobom enrolled at MSU in 1970, he already knew about the locomotive. A 1977 graduate who studied urban planning and public administration, Frobom was a model railroading hobbyist fascinated by old machines of all sorts. That fall, he attended an MSU Railroad Club meeting and signed onto the project of reviving the 1225 locomotive. “I haven’t stopped working since,” says the 73-year-old Spartan. “Although I’ve slowed down a lot.”
That day, he met Randy Paquette and Steve Reeves, two other former MSU students who still work on North Pole Express trips to this day. Though Frobom “can no longer wriggle into the boiler and climb 14 feet up to the top of the engine so easily,” he’s still fascinated by the Pere Marquette 1225’s hardware.
"In the 1970s, we never imagined the engine would have the following it does." - Aarne Frobom
In 1979, the Michigan State Trust for Railway Preservation was formed to raise money to make the train operational again. Frobom recalls a favorite memory from 1980, when the fence around the engine was demolished in order to reconnect its track to the railroad spur that entered the campus in those days. “With an earth mover, we moved the 1225 for the first time since 1957,” says Frobom. “That’s when we knew the engine would really be leaving the campus and returning to the railroad system.”
Restoration continued in Owosso. The revitalized steam engine returned to the rails transporting passengers in 1988, when it made its first 17-mile trip between Owosso and St. Charles, operated by the Steam Railroading Institute.
All aboard the North Pole Express
Today, train enthusiasts and those celebrating the holiday season can climb aboard the locomotive each November and December — if they can nab tickets on time, because the North Pole Express train rides sell out fast.
Departing from the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso, the Pere Marquette 1225 — renamed the North Pole Express — makes a 4 1/2–hour round trip to the village of Ashley’s Country Christmas, where carnival rides, photo opportunities and an encounter with Santa Claus await visitors young and old. Even if tickets for the journey are sold out, it’s possible to attend the Country Christmas festivities.
“In the 1970s, we never imagined the engine would have the following it does,” says Frobom.
Coming in at a length of over 100 feet and 400 tons in weight, Pere Marquette 1225’s coal-powered engine runs at 3,000 horsepower and takes eight hours to fire up with a team of 10 to 15 people — a real labor of love. The Pere Marquette is the only steam engine of its class that is still operational, making this much-loved train ride a unique opportunity to experience a World War II–era feat of engineering while celebrating the holiday season with loved ones.
Every time passengers get ready to board the train, Frobom notices a recurring sentiment: gratitude for this unique moment of nostalgia — made possible by the experienced team who helps keep the engine and its place in Spartan history alive.