The Steam Railroading Institute(reporting markMSTX) is a non-profit organization that preserves, restores, and operates historical railroad equipment and items.[1] Located in Owosso, Michigan,[2] it was founded in 1969 as the Michigan State University Railroad Club[3] and later became the Michigan State Trust for Railway Preservation before adopting its present name.[4][5][6]
In the late 1950s, Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Chairman Cyrus Eaton sought to donate No. 1225, a steam locomotive recently retired by the Pere Marquette Railway, to Michigan State University's College of Engineering so the students could work on a piece of real equipment and keep the locomotive from the scrapyard. He convinced University Trustee Forest Akers, but not the dean of the College of Engineering, so University President John Hannah accepted No. 1225 as a contribution to the MSU Museum. It arrived on campus in 1957.[9] There it sat, getting an occasional coat of paint and visits from the public on football weekends. In 1970, the year-old Michigan State University Railroad Club, at the suggestion of Randy Paquette, decided to restore No. 1225 and use it to pull excursion trains that would bring passengers to football games at the university.
But MSU had no interest in running a steam locomotive. Eventually, University President Edgar Harden proposed to MSURRC President Chuck Julian that a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization be founded to take ownership of No. 1225. In July 1979, the Michigan State Trust for Railway Preservation was founded.[9]
Later, the Michigan State Trust for Railway Preservation became the Steam Railroading Institute.
The turntable is a 90ft (27m) turntable built in 1919 to serve the Pere Marquette railyard in New Buffalo, Michigan. It served a 16-stall roundhouse until 1984, when the Chessie System closed the New Buffalo yard. The SRI acquired the turntable, moved it to its site, and lengthened it by 10ft (3.0m) to accommodate larger rolling stock like the PM 1225.[10]
SRI Visitor Center
The SRI Visitor Center sits inside a renovated freight warehouse used by the Ann Arbor road. The foundation dates to the 1880s. It is speculated that the original structure, a creamery, burned down in the 1920s. The Ann Arbor used it to store grain and other freight, then leased it to Bruckman's Moving and Storage. The SRI purchased the building in 2004 and renovated it to serve as their Visitor Center, with exhibit space, a model train layout, and the museum's artifact and archives collection.[10]
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