Train Festival 2009

This year for our steam railroading excursion Bill, Bud and I went to the four day Train Festival 2009, which ran from July 23-26, 2009 and was held in Owosso, MI. Owosso is about 45 minutes northeast of Lansing, Michigan, and is home of the Steam Railroading Institute, which operates and maintains the Pere Marquette 1225 'Berkshire class' 2-8-4 steam locomotive, also known as the train in the popular Christmas animated movie "Polar Express". The 1225 locomotive needs to have the expensive 15-year annual boiler inspection performed and the festival was a way to raise money for the upcoming work.

We spent a total of three days at the festival, plus two for travel and immersed ourselves in the coal smoke, crowds and all things railroading for the duration.

We left dark and early 4:30 am Thursday morning to get a jump on the 10-hours drive north. We traveled in comfort in Bill's Audi A6. Bud had secured a room at a Residence Inn in East Lansing, near Michigan State University since Owosso is so small that it does not have hotels. I brought "Jill" our dependable GPS-based Garmin Streetpilot 2720 navigator and restaurant spotter of many such trips in the past.

Our early departure allowed us to locate the hotel, check the travel time to Owosso, locate the festival and scout the route of the train excursions. We were going to 'chase' the Southern Pacific "Daylight" 4449 on Friday, so we needed to find locations where the tracks were near the road and relatively clear of viewing obstacles so we could see and hear it go by as it went down the tracks.

Having marked several promising locations on the GPS, we returned to our hotel room and found a local restaurant to grab a late evening dinner. Sitting across from our table appeared to be the family of one of the suppliers to my hobby, Godshall Custom Machine, who I had never met but was keen to introduce myself to. When I recognized Joe Holbrook and Don Saager (people I had met in Columbia, TN at a Mid-South Live Steamers meet) stopping by the table, I found an excuse to join them and meet Wayne Godshall. The weekend was off to a good start!