Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 52, 2009

Pere Marquette 1225 is a 2-8-4 (Berkshire) steam locomotive built for Pere Marquette Railroad (PM) by Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio. 1225 is one of two surviving Pere Marquette 2-8-4 locomotives and the only one operable. PM used 1225 in regular service from the locomotive's construction in 1941 until the railroad merged into Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) in 1947; it remained in use on C&O's Michigan lines until 1951. Slated for scrapping, 1225 was acquired by Michigan State University in 1957 and placed on static display. In 1971, work began to restore 1225 to operation, an effort that culminated in its first excursion run in 1988. The locomotive, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is now used on excursion trains over the former Tuscola and Saginaw Bay Railway, now Great Lakes Central Railroad. In 2004, 1225's blueprints were the prototype for the locomotive image, and its sounds were used in the film The Polar Express.