Southern boxcar #32984 is probably hoping for a quick return to warmer, sunnier climes of the South as it passes southbound through Tecumseh, Michigan on 22 January 1981, headed for Lenawee Junction. Photographer Edward Hodges was out on this bleak, cold day to photograph Conrail’s Clinton Local.
Conrail GP-8 #5457 was the regular locomotive on the Clinton Branch for several years. It was rebuilt by the ICG shops at Paducah, KY from a former Erie-Lackawanna Railroad GP-7. Caboose #19834 is a former New Haven car #517, and was also a regular on the branch.
The train has just crossed Chicago Boulevard in Tecumseh, and is passing in front of the then-fire station. The tracks then ran through the lawns of several houses before reaching the yard area, south of Tecumseh Junction.
The tracks still remain here, owned by the Southern Michigan Railroad Society.
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