Steam & Excursion > PM-1225 Video from today -- 12-06-2025

I've got two clips here...  the first is leaving Owosso, and the second is approaching Ashley at the M-57 crossing.  There was a lot of excitement between the two locations...

I got to Owosso in time to gas the car and poke around a bit.  I selected a viewing spot and set the tripod / camera up, making sure that things were as I wanted.  It took me longer than expected to get out of Owosso, and when I got to my first spot, the train was 30 seconds away from the Smith Road crossing so I didn't have any time to get setup.  It was fun to watch him pound his way over Smith Road.  Sigh, I thought to myself.  I was then off to the Judville Road crossing, but, man, that guy was flying and again I had maybe 45 seconds to setup (fat chance) so again I watched him cross the road.  Onward and upward I drove across the flats of Shiawassee county hoping to get him at the Maple River crossing...  but instead of that I turned down Henderson Road hoping for a shot.  Nope.  Foiled again by the guy with the itchy throttle hand (He flew like the wind like I've never seen in 15 plus years of the PM-1225 cross country chase.)  Still undeterred, I headed for the M-57 crossing just outside of Ashley and I got there quickly enough to get set up, but the camera was not really ready to fly before the train came into viewfinder range.  I didn't get the microphone attached, so I relied on the built-in, which sounded like a race track with the whistle loosing to the noise, so I dropped the video.

Argh.  I'll be able to get out again tomorrow, so I'll be much better prepared for the Shiawassee cross country flyer.  Wish me luck and a steady wind behind my back, and Lord spare me from any crazy notions of trying to film a clip on an off-beat county road.

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Very, very nice looking train and I love the 1225 for sure.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Some free video advice from the dude who shot news video for a couple decades.  (Of course, that may be all it's worth.)

If you know you're up against it time-wise, stow your tripod with the legs extended, and (if applicable) tripod plate mounted..  Hopefully there's a place you can safely park your car that will let you run to a setup spot.  Park car, grab a white balance (you did bring something white, correct?), plop the sticks down.  Quickly level with the tripod bubble.  Roll the camera -- better to have stuff to chop off than miss the shot.  Make sure everything's working.  Get the shot.

I admit, 30 seconds to snag a shot runs very tight indeed.  I would say, with some practice, you should have the ability to plop the sticks down, level, and roll the camera if you pull up with a minute or thereabouts.

As for audio... camera mounted supercardioid shotgun mikes are your friend.  They aren't perfect.  If you have the time to get a X-Y microphone pair set up, great.  More power to you.  I'd suggest some audio is better than no audio.

As for me, "getting the shot" forgives any number of sins.  Ultimately, it depends on what you want to do with your video.

Just my opinion but, please do NOT set up at grade crossings. The whistle and crossing bells tends to overcome/override the exhaust "music".

HotWater Wrote:
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> Just my opinion but, please do NOT set up at grade
> crossings. The whistle and crossing bells tends to
> overcome/override the exhaust "music".

Belive me, I wish I could oblige your request, as I'm irritated by the same thing:  crossing bells and first class symphonic whistle blowing.  I've scoured google maps using the satelite images, but finding a spot that's close enough to the tracks to get a decent image is difficult:  it's all farmland and the farmers do not trim offending brush and trees, and the railroad doesn't as well.  I did try that Ransom Road location, but on examination of the photos that I took there, I see so much vegetation in the way that the effort does not really pay out well.  The spot on Smith road really looks promising, but I'm not going to try that tomorrow:  too far to go and too long in the tooth for two days of excitment; I don't want to wear out the new pacemaker prematurely.  The next time that I go chasing PM 1225 I'll camp out at the Smith Road spot as it has a good view of the tracks and there are no crossing bells.  Hopefully I can also beat the train to the Maple River Road crossing and get the camera setup before the train comes into view.

HotWater Wrote:
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> Just my opinion but, please do NOT set up at grade
> crossings. The whistle and crossing bells tends to
> overcome/override the exhaust "music".
I couldn't agree more!  So many videos are nearly unwatchable because of the automobiles, crossing bells and the overdone whistling. I think the majority of us would rather hear the engine working.
There are a number of postings on Facebook with videos of White Pass & Yukon's 2-8-2 that are superb works of art. I realize that sometimes a crossing is the only reachable spot in time for a video and is certanly better than no video.
Dave Goodheart when shooting us on 1522 asked us to keep the whistling to what is basicly necessary and told us where he or his crew would be.
Having said all of that, thank you to the guys who shoot video. This is not meant as criticism but friendly advice.

Perhaps I missed something but, in what state was the video shot?

Thanks for posting, great video!

Merry Christmas!

Cliff Rutherford
Grain Valley, MO

Sorry about that...  PM 1225 lives in Owosso, Michigan which is about 20 miles west of Flint Michigan.  Back in the day it was pretty busy with GTW activity, but it did not hold a candle to Durand about 10 miles to the south east, which was an important spot for steam locomotion as well as trains in general.  It once had a huge round house, and the cement coaling tower still stands.