(March 24, 2009 – Owosso, MI) The “World’s Most Famous Steam Locomotive” will travel from it’s home in Portland, OR 2500 miles to Owosso, MI for America’s Largest Celebration of Railroading in July. Southern Pacific steam locomotive no. 4449 known as the “Daylight” will appear at TrainFestival 2009 in Owosso, MI July 23-26. The massive undertaking to organize this train is being jointly coordinated by The Steam Railroading Institute of Owosso, MI, The Friends of the 4449 of Portland, OR and The Friends of the 261 of Minneapolis, MN.

TrainFestival 2009 is America’s Largest Celebration of Railroading and will include 8 steam locomotives under steam, vintage and modern diesel/electric locomotives, various train rides, huge model train layouts, miniature train rides, art exhibit, locomotive cab tours, railroad vendors and much more. This family event is being held as a fund raiser to keep operating Pere Marquette steam locomotive no. 1225. This locomotive owned by the Steam Railroading Institute of Owosso, MI is due for Federal Railroad Administration re-certification in 2010. This locomotive is best known as the steam locomotive portrayed in the animated movie “The Polar Express”.

The Southern Pacific Daylight no. 4449 will travel across country on an Amtrak sponsored trip hauling thousands of passengers on this rare excursion. The locomotive and train will travel through many cities along the way including Spokane, Fargo, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, and Lansing. A special excursion will be operated on July 24 originating from TrainFestival 2009, tickets are available online. The locomotive will be on display during the event for visitors to photograph, visit with the crew as well as explore the cab.

Southern Pacific no. 4449 was built in 1941 as a GS-4 "Northern" type locomotive. A 4-8-4 wheel arrangement, she is 110' long, 10' wide and 16' tall. The locomotive and tender weighs 433 tons, and it operates with a boiler pressure of 300 psi. Her eight 80" diameter drivers and unique booster truck can apply 5,500 horsepower to the rails and exceed 100 mph.

The only remaining operable "streamlined" steam locomotive of the Art Deco era, No. 4449 pulled the famous Southern Pacific first class "Daylight" passenger trains between Los Angeles and San Francisco over the scenic Coast Route and then on to Portland until 1955. Retired to static display at Oaks Park in 1958, most thought SP 4449 would never run again.

In 1974, she was selected to pull the American Freedom Train throughout the United States, and was subsequently rebuilt. Southern Pacific no. 4449 ran for three years to the delight of over 30 million people. She is arguably one of the most beautiful locomotives ever built -- and kept that way by the all-volunteer Friends of SP 4449!

More information and tickets are available online at http://www.trainfestival2009.com or by calling (989) 725-9464.

Contact:
Jason Johnson
Chairman - TrainFestival 2009
jason@prestigecreative.com

Congratulations to Jason on this "get". Sure should make the event all the more special and a real "must do" for all true steam fanatics!!!

Should be a great event!!!

Ross Rowland

I hereby second that congratulations! SteamFestival 2009 is getting to be quite an event!

GAD-FREAKIN-ZOOKS. Holy LIMA locomotives Batman!

This is wonderful news, I had to double check today's date to believe its true.

Awesome!

Joshua

We almost waited until April first to anounce!
Jason

Dude, I've gotta remember that one!

For trivia fans,

The GS-4 was Lima order No. 1152; the Pere Marquette N-1, 1155. Not quite a reunion from the Lima shop floor in 1941, but close. (The 1225 shared the erecting hall with the C&O Alleghanies.)

This will be the first operation of a steam locomotive over the Grand Trunk Western main line since -- the Flying Scotsman in 1969. Of course, it's the second operation of an American Freedom Train 4-8-4 through Owosso, so that's pretty commonplace.

Aarne Frobom
Trackside in Shaftsburg, Michigan

More trivia for you,

SP4449 bear's Lima builder's #7817. C&O Allegheny 1604 at the B&O Museum is #7824, which means that C&O 1601 at the Henry Ford must be #7821. All this means is that the first Allegheny's were erected right after a batch of SP GS4's.

First thing I did was check the date, then said Holy @$&* who won the lottery
WOW WOW WOW good on you boys.
I was excited to see the Leviathan and the little pacific - now this!! I never thought I would see this engine. Just to stir the pot, since the friends of the 261 are helping with this trip, is there any chance they could provide some power as well???
Another quick question related to the festival but not 4449.
If my dad and I both sign up to run the tank engine with consecutive time slots, can we stay in the cab while the other person is running?
And if all the time slots are full in the tank engine, can we run the daylight :)
Can't wait till July!
Matt

You might be a bit late on getting throttle time on the tank engine. I overheard that all of the "Hands-on-the-Throttle" slots have already been sold out. Don't 100% quote me on this but if you want to participate in this, you might want to inquire as soon as possible, as in telephone call tomorrow! Hope I'm wrong for your sake but I thought I overheard this from a "very reliable" source.

Friday has two slots left for Hand on the Throttle. Saturday is definitely gone. Sunday is down to 12 total. Many thanks to all who have booked!

TJG

Thanks to everyone for all of the hard work to make this happen. I'm bummed that I'll be on a trip elsewhere.

I too was really excited and surprised about 4449 being on the schedule there in Owosso. I already had the trip to MI planned prior to today's announcement so this is some major icing on the cake.

I am really curious just how this addition came to be. The costs of bringing the 49 from such a great distance have to be quite high. I realize there will be some revenue made on ticket sales on the Friday excursion but would think expenses would greatly outweigh revenue. Can anyone comment? Of course, I have no complaints but am wondering what's in it for Doyle and his group.

Also, does anyone know the plans for ferrying the '49 to Owosso? Will she be running over UP or BNSF? Will she be leading or in tow? Might there be other trips after TrainFest 2009 or will she head straight back to Portland?

One last question. Can anyone comment on why all 3 excursions are heading to Alma? I've seen many good photos of 1225 made on photo freights but none were taken on the Alma line. I would think some might choose to take more than one trip if another destination was offered.

Thanks!

David,

There are two branches open to us during Trainfestival. We have the Ann Arbor to Cadillac and the NYC St. Charles Branch. These are the two lines out of Owosso that the Great Lakes Central operates. There is the line south to Durand but that is owned by Huron & Eastern (RailAmerica).
The St. Charles branch has some scenery but it will be used by the one hour excursions. Most of the photo charter pictures you have seen of 1225 were on the Ann Arbor. This is the line that heads to Alma and beyond.
We chose Alma for many reasons. 1. Its proximity to Owosso. It allows us to do a nice day long excursion without it being so long that kids fall asleep. 2. Alma is one of the only locations where there is a wye. That way we can turn the loco and train and have it pull in both directions. Everywhere else, prior to Cadillac does not have a wye and we would have had to do a push/pull with a diesel or run the steam engine backwards. With the amount of people that are expected for Trainfestival, neither of those options seemed appropriate.
Hopefully this answers your questions.

Keep Steaming,
Greg Udolph
Owosso, MI

Within the past few years I rode an all day passenger excursion over some really rare CSX track hadn't seen a public trip in decades, and who knows when again. I asked an official of the local NRHS chapter how in the heck they did it, "don't ask, just enjoy the trip!" and I did. Maybe we'll know, maybe we won't, but how cool is this!

Beyond driving, any recommendations on how to get there? Are there any NRHS chapters sending bus trips? I thought I read of an inbound excursion but can't seem to find it.

Joshua