If you think the popular Warner Brothers classic, The Polar Express, is fantasy – well, think again. Because the loco, Pere Marquette No 1225, which inspired the book and then the film, is enjoying a new lease of life taking excited American youngsters on a Christmas ride of their lives through the Michigan snows.
And I have a family link to the railroad company that brought the locomotive into being. It’s a tenuous connection, but it’s real enough, as I’ll explain later.
The famous engine, built in 1941 by the Pere Marquette Railroad Company in Michigan, spent ten years in service until diesel engines became cheaper to use and maintain and the Pere Marquette was amalgamated with another company. The 1225 was destined to be scrapped. But luckily it was last in line at the railroad yard where it ended its days, and so easier to move. It ended up on display at Michigan State University for more than a decade before serious restoration work began in 1971. In November, 1985, the loco moved again after being out of action for 34 years. Its first excursion took place in 1988, and the 1225 now has a permanent home at the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso, Michigan.
Each winter, the famous loco takes passengers on a magical four and a half hour round trip billed as the North Pole Express. It’s massively popular, especially with children. Tickets for the Christmas excursions go on sale in June and tend to sell-out. (The Wikipedia image below shows the famous loco on a final winter run in 2004 with Polar Express lettering).
I used to watch the movie every Christmas for several years with my grandson, Alfie. It was his favourite Christmas film, and although I found it slightly weird, it definitely had charm. But I had no idea at that time of the family link.
As I entered my 70s, I finally identified my American soldier father after more than 25 years of searching. It’s a journey of discovery that I tell elsewhere in this Life Stories section of my website.
A few years after making contact with my sister, Judi Clough, in Michigan, I began drawing up family trees for Judi and her late husband, David Barnier. Then I moved on to Judi’s second husband, Bill Clough, who died in 2017.
Bill, who served in the 2nd World War, enlisting as an 18 year old in the 101st Airborne Division – “the Screaming Eagles” – came from a railway family. Bill himself worked in the railway industry, and his father Paul was a yardmaster employed by the Pere Marquette Railroad Company. This is my family connection, through my sister Judi and her late husband, Bill.
As a yardmaster, Paul may well have seen the engine in action. Like all those in its class, it was designed to pull freight, and the 1225 was the most powerful loco in Michigan at that time.
The author Chris Van Allsburg used to see the loco on display at Michigan State University when he was a boy on the way to a football game. The 1225 became the inspiration for his book on which the film is based, and is a faithful representation. Even the sound of the 1225 as an animation is accurate. The book was published in 1985 just as the 1225 began moving again following its restoration.
So if you watch the movie, or perhaps even read the book, remember – it’s not just a magical work of imagination, it’s real. Just ask those kids as they ride once again on the North Pole Express.