For the 75th Birthday of Pere Marquette 1225 the Steam Railroading Institute ran an excursion from Owosso to Clare and back.

Due to the lack of turning facilities in Clare, the 1225 had to be run in reverse for the trip up. While this presented some challenges for the big 2-8-4, the locomotive arrived at Clare with no difficulties.

In an interesting twist, the locomotive did something it has never done before and went into downtown Clare. To do this it pulled forward out of the Great Lakes Central's yard and onto whats left of the old C&O Ludington Sub, which is the former PM mainline between Saginaw and Ludington, Michigan.

This is significant as this is most likely the first time in recorded history a PM 2-8-4 has been on this stretch of tracks (they were too heavy to go beyond Saginaw because of bridges), and the first time the 1225 has been on PM rails since 1991(test runs to Grand Rapids and back). Although the Ludington Sub is basically gone outside of Village Limits, it was still cool to see.

You will hear several times in the video my friend talking, as this was her first time seeing a steam locomotive ever. She enjoyed the experience very much.
Stay tuned for Part 2!