Conrail GP-8 #5457 and caboose #19865 cross Chicago Blvd. (M-50) in downtown Tecumseh, Michigan on 08 October 1980. Edward Hodges photographed this “caboose hop” (a locomotive and caboose running without any freight cars).
The Budd Company at Clinton had stopped using rail transport shortly before this, and for a time the “Clinton Local” continued to operate on a 3-times-a-week schedule to Toledo (returning the next day). With no freight traffic to move, the “Local” would soon be cancelled, and the line to Clinton would thereafter be operated on an as-needed basis.
The Southern Michigan Railroad still occasionally operates tourist trains through here, but Tecumseh’s commercial scene has completely changed. The D&C store (in the brick Masonic building) and Ken-Ray Drugs (the green storefront) are long gone; there are now lofts in the Masonic building. Don’s Contented Sole, serving fish and chips is also gone, replaced by the Boulevard Market.
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