In a scene that repeated itself over the course of more than 150 years, a freight train moves slowly through Tecumseh, MI, running on a narrow strip of right-of-way on the east side of Evans Street. For many years this train would have travelled as far north as Jackson on this, the former-New York Central Jackson Branch. The line was cut back in the mid-1960s, and thereafter the village of Clinton was the northernmost destination.
Today is 27 March 1982, and in just about two more weeks, this tradition will come to an end forever. Today, however, there is still freight to be moved, and cars for Clinton’s Tri-County Logging and Pallox stretch out behind Conrail GP7 #5903, with former New Haven caboose #19834 bringing up the rear.
I grew up watching Penn Central—and then Conrail—freights passing through Tecumseh. In the 1970s the ritual would occur twice a day, with the train running south to Lenawee Junction in the afternoon, and then returning north a few hours later. The engineer would turn the bell on nearing Brown Street, and leave it on all the way through town until passing Patterson St. The sound of the bell left plenty of time to get trackside to see the train, as the “Clinton Local” would only crawl along at 5 mph due to the many crossings through town.
The railroad tracks remain here today, operated by the Southern Michigan Railroad Society. There are no longer any freight cars passing through, but the bell of a diesel locomotive can still be heard in Tecumseh from time to time as one of the Society’s excursion trains moves through the town center.
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