On a May afternoon 43 years ago, Edward Hodges captured Conrail’s southbound Clinton Local as it headed for Lenawee Junction, Michigan.
The location for this May 1977 photo is just north of the Staib Road crossing between Clinton and Tecumseh. The tracks remain here to this day under the ownership of the Southern Michigan Railroad Society.
The locomotive, Conrail SW-9 #8987 still wears its Penn Central black paint, just over a year after Conrail’s creation. The locomotive was built for the New York Central Railroad in January of 1953, and was already 24 years old at this time. It would survive into the 1980s, and received Conrail blue paint.
Caboose #19882 still wears complete Penn Central colours. This ex-New Haven caboose was a long-time regular on the Clinton Branch.
Leave a Reply