Trainfest Day Three

Nickel Plate Road 765 captured in photo runby 25-July-2009, south of Alma, MI. Shown with permission of Bud Purcell, photographer.

Excursion time! A leisurely day to ride the train. Originally we were scheduled to ride behind the 1225, but it had developed a leaky flue and could not run. Instead we rode behind the Nickel Plate Road 765, a sister engine of the same size and class as the 1225, but from a different railroad.

One of the features of an 'excursion' is they stop the train somewhere during the trip, all those who want get off the train and line up in a long diagonal line away from the tracks, shoulder to shoulder with cameras at the ready. The operators back the train up, pull the throttle open and drive by with the whistle blowing and smoke billowing putting on a great show. Once the last car goes by the photo line, they stop the train, back up and do it again!



Nickel Plate 765 in a reverse move for another photo runby, 25-July-09 south of Alma, MI. It captured the whistle talk of this high stepping Berkshire.

This is known as a 'photo run by' and we got three of them before re-boarding the train and continuing our trip back to the station. In all our excursion was about nine hours long, although the train ride was only about five hours.

After returning to Owosso, we spent a few minutes on the festival grounds sight seeing before they closed for the evening. While on the train, we had spotted a renovated industrial building on our way out of town that morning which, like other local establishments, had geared up for the festival with an outdoor tent and live music. Having a coupon on the back of our ticket, we decided to check out the wrought iron grill. It was a hoppin'in place, perhaps a little more upscale and apparently patronized by the locals and festival goers alike. I tried the regional microbrews from Bell's. Their Oberon was a bit too hoppy for me, but the wheat was nice.