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Conrail camp car finale
Into the 1970s, camp cars were a railroad tradition. Often converted from old heavyweight passenger cars from the 1920s or 30s, camp cars were used by the railroad maintenance-of-way department for housing track crews (or “gangs”) which moved around the […]
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Photo day—AApparation in the fog
On the foggy morning of 27 July 1986, the Southern Michigan Railroad Society’s ex-Ann Arbor Railroad RS-2 #303 has come to life. Pushing dead sister #301 and Jim Frye’s ex-GTW caboose, the veteran Alco has crept north for the first time […]
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Photo day—Old and new at Air Line Yard
By 1982, Conrail “patch” units were becoming a rare species. Conrail was finally on top of their motive power woes, and new units coming online meant there was time for attention, including a paint job, for older units. Still, at […]
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CR 5457 and the Clinton Branch
Throughout the first half of the 1970s, standard motive power on the Clinton Branch was a black EMD SW-7/8/9 switcher, leading the Clinton Local down and back the 13.5 miles between Clinton and Lenawee Junction, Michigan. With the arrival of Conrail in […]
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Final freight in Clinton
Conrail’s days as the operator of the Clinton Branch from Lenawee Junction to Clinton, Michigan were coming to a close at the beginning of 1982. The company had already applied to abandon the line, and the only active shippers remaining […]
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Photo day—the SMRS ICE train
No, this was not a tour by the German ICE train, but rather a trip made by members of the Southern Michigan Railroad on an icy day in January 1988. Starting from Clinton, a group of members set out with […]
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A walk along the DT&M Spur
When the Southern Michigan Railroad Society purchased its line in the 1980s from Conrail, the sale included what was known as the DT&M Spur in Tecumseh. This was the last remnant of the former-Detroit, Toledo & Milwaukee Railroad (DT&M), which […]
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Tecumseh southbound
It appears to be a warm day on 13 June 1980, when photographer David J. Mrozek caught the Conrail “Clinton Local” just after leaving Tecumseh. At this time the “Local” would leave Clinton mid-afternoon each day, traveling through Tecumseh and […]