A post relating to railfanning
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Autumn afternoon at the Junction (1980)
The smell of burning leaves is surely in the air on the sunny afternoon of 22 October 1980 as Conrail’s southbound Clinton Local trundles through Tecumseh, Michigan. The locomotive’s bell will be ringing, as it did all the way through […]
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Photo day—Snowy Alexis, January 1982
On a bleak weekend day in January 1982, Conrail GP-15-1 #1682 leads a southbound train of empty coal hoppers across the Chessie System (C&O) diamond at Alexis Tower in Toledo, Ohio. I had just received my first 35mm camera for […]
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Adventures with the Penn Central in Clinton (1974)
by Eric Reinert Here are my recollections of the Penn Central operations I have from the brief period that I lived in Clinton, Michigan. We moved to Clinton from Milan, Mich. in October 1974, 6-7 weeks after school had started, […]
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Photo day—Alco at the interchange
On the frigid morning of 10 February 1983, Lenawee County Railroad Co. Alco RS-1 #3 is preparing to enter the interchange track with the Norfolk & Western Railway at Adrian, Michigan. Four boxcars (probably from the Hoover Universal plant in […]
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Tecumseh autumn arrival (1980)
The leaves on the trees were turning and the afternoon shadows getting long when Edward Hodges captured Conrail’s Clinton Local arriving in Tecumseh, Michigan on 22 October 1980. The Local, running southbound from Clinton to Lenawee Junction, is approaching the […]
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Switcher summer in Adrian–1967
It is the summer of 1967 in Adrian, Michigan. With the “Old Road” line from Toledo to Elkhart having been severed some years earlier, Adrian is a bit of a backwater on the mighty New York Central System, at the […]
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Winter’s End—Clinton, MI 1979
Spring was not far away when Edward Hodges photographed Conrail’s Clinton Local at Clinton, Mich. in March of 1979. It is likely a weekend day, as no crew is present and the train is tied down with locomotive idling on […]
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Photo day—Dexter at twilight
In the last rays of the setting sun, Amtrak train #352, “The Lake Cities”, races through the small town of Dexter, Mich. on 08 October 1982. The train is en route from Chicago to Toledo, and will soon be slowing […]
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Conrail Presidential Special (1983)
In the spring of 1985, Conrail president L. Stanley Crane and railroad officials toured the Conrail system. Part of the inspection included Conrail lines in Michigan. The special train first arrived in Michigan running from Toledo to Detroit. Then, on […]
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The last winter of the Clinton Branch—40 years later
by Jeffrey Dobek Photos—the author, except as noted A filing with the Interstate Commerce Commission on November 16, 1981 signaled the coming end of Conrail freight service on the Clinton Branch between Lenawee Junction and Clinton, Michigan: Although press reports […]