Pere Marquette 1225 returns to tracks. When to see North Pole Express

The historic steam locomotive Pere Marquette 1225, which was taken out of service two weeks in the past, has been repaired and can take cost of the North Pole Express this weekend the Steam Railroading Institute introduced.

“Full velocity forward!” the nonprofit prepare preservation group mentioned on Fb on December 4. “We’re happy to announce that Pere Marquette 1225 is again in service! After a devoted effort from our crew, the enduring steam locomotive will as soon as once more lead our North PoleExpress excursions.”

The SRI out of the blue took the 1941 steam engine out of service after a take a look at run on November 22, throughout which a wheel bearing was discovered to have overheated. The engine was idled to stop the bearing downside from inflicting additional injury.

“Luckily, latest updates to warmth sensors and different security programs aboard the 1225 alerted personnel to the issue in a well timed method, sparing additional injury to this historic icon. We’re extraordinarily grateful to our crew for his or her continued dedication to our prospects and our gear,” the SRI mentioned in a Nov. 26 Fb put up.

A diesel locomotive pulled the North Pole Categorical for the primary two weekends of excursions to Ashley, Michigan.

The SRIs Pere Marquette 1225 The steam locomotive was scheduled to drag a prepare of historic passenger vehicles from the museum grounds in Owosso, Michigan to Ashley, Michigan, on its first Christmas-themed journey of the 2025 vacation season starting November 21.

The North Pole Categorical is scheduled to journey by means of the top of December.

Last holiday season, diesel locomotives ran NoordpoolExpress runs “as a precaution resulting from issues concerning the locomotive’s superheaters.” The museum’s volunteers dismantled the locomotive over the course of 2025 and rebuilt the programs in order that it might run this 12 months.

Tickets for the North Pole Express annual steam engine journeys between Owosso and Ashley for sale in June and have been offered out for months.

The Steam Railroading Institute supplied two completely different courses of particular person tickets in addition to tables for 4, three completely different non-public caboose packages for 12 visitors and a personal automobile for as much as 16 folks on 18 dates in November and December.

“Put in your favourite pajamas or 40s/50s garments for a nostalgic journey aboard the North Pole Categorical, pulled by the Pere Marquette 1225!” The SRI stories this on its web site. “This four-and-a-half-hour tour departs from the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso and takes you to the village of Ashley’s Nation Christmas, that includes two hours of festivities with leisure, photograph alternatives and an opportunity to fulfill Santa Claus.”

The Pere Marquette 1225 locomotive, based mostly on the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso, usually pulls the prepare and was featured within the 2004 animated movie Tom Hanks movie, “The Polar Express.”

The 1225 was inbuilt October 1941 on the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio for the Pere Marquette Railway, the SRI mentioned on its web site.

The locomotive was used for 10 years between Detroit, Toledo, Flint, Saginaw, Grand Rapids and Chicago. The locomotive is one in all 39 2-8-4 or ‘Berkshire’ sorts ordered by Pere Marquette.

The Pere Marquette 1225 is 15 toes, 8 inches lengthy and 100 toes lengthy with a mixed engine and a young weight of 401 tons. It may possibly produce 5,000 horsepower.

“It takes about eight hours to generate full steam strain on the locomotive’s boiler, which operates at 245 kilos per sq. inch. The tender holds 22 tons of coal and 22,000 gallons of water, consuming one ton of coal per 12 miles and 150 gallons of water per mile. The locomotive value $245,000 or about $2.5 million by right this moment’s requirements,” the SRI says.

By 2024, tickets were also sold out for the annual sequence of prepare excursions, aside from a number of particular person tickets, inside one hour. The tickets had been so well-liked, it led to fraud preying on individuals who could not get tickets on the first sale. The SRI has even added extra tour dates resulting from demand.