It is 22 December 1985, and Lenawee County Railroad #2 “George Crane” has just spotted former-Ann Arbor Railroad RS-2s #301 and #303 (carrying reporting marks “SMRX”) on the west leg of the wye at Lenawee Junction, Michigan for delivery to the Southern Michigan Railroad Society.
The SMRS purchased the RS-2s directly from the Ann Arbor. Located in Toledo, Ohio at the time of purchase, they were then moved by the AA to Diann, MI and interchanged the Grand Trunk Western (former DT&I). The GTW moved the units to Riga, MI, where the LCRC picked them up.
After Christmas, the LCRC will push the locomotives north onto the SMRS’s own track, the Clinton Branch. They will be stored north of Demlow Road near Jim Frye’s farm. In 1987 #303 will be repainted into NYC colors (as NYC #8203) and sent to Blissfield, Mich. for the unveiling of a plaque commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Erie & Kalamazoo Railroad.
A few years later, SMRS will sell the Alcos to another party, and they will be moved onto LCRC rails, languishing and being vandalized in Adrian and later Blissfield. They were later sold again and left Michigan.
LCRC #2 will serve the railroad until it closed in 1990. It was scrapped at Blissfield, Mich.
Leave a Reply