A post relating to the state of Michigan
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Tecumseh’s last freight train—35 years on
Before March ends, I thought it worth noting that March this year marks 35 years since the last freight train passed through Tecumseh, ending 145 years of continuous freight service on the Clinton Branch between Lenawee Junction and Tecumseh. It […]
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Hillsdale 1908
Hillsdale was the “hub” of the network of New York Central secondary lines in southeastern Michigan. The Toledo-Elkhart “Old Road” ran through Hillsdale, and branch lines headed out in all directions. Here we find a nice vintage shot from Hillsdale, […]
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The Artrain comes to Tecumseh
The Michigan Artrain was founded in 1971, as a project to take art to the many small towns in Michigan where there was a railroad, but not an art museum. Over the next several years it toured the state, but later […]
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CR 5457 and the Clinton Branch
Throughout the first half of the 1970s, standard motive power on the Clinton Branch was a black EMD SW-7/8/9 switcher, leading the Clinton Local down and back the 13.5 miles between Clinton and Lenawee Junction, Michigan. With the arrival of Conrail in […]
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Final freight in Clinton
Conrail’s days as the operator of the Clinton Branch from Lenawee Junction to Clinton, Michigan were coming to a close at the beginning of 1982. The company had already applied to abandon the line, and the only active shippers remaining […]
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Tecumseh southbound
It appears to be a warm day on 13 June 1980, when photographer David J. Mrozek caught the Conrail “Clinton Local” just after leaving Tecumseh. At this time the “Local” would leave Clinton mid-afternoon each day, traveling through Tecumseh and […]
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Photo day—Britton in 1909
Here’s an interesting old black and white photo of Britton, Michigan, taken in 1909. This is looking west down the present-day M-50/Monroe Road. Even though this highway is still a mud road at this time, crossing gates have been installed to […]
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Dashing through the snow—in a Plymouth!
The first piece of full-sized railroad equipment owned by Southern Michigan Railroad Society (not counting the track cars which were accumulating at the time), was the 35-ton Plymouth locomotive. It was donated by the Hayes-Albion Company in Albion, Michigan, and […]
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The LCRC gets creative at Grosvenor
Between 1980 and 1982, the Lenawee County Railroad Company (LCRC) had trackage rights over Conrail’s Clinton Secondary track between Lenawee Junction and Grosvenor, MI. This allowed the LCRC to access its Morenci Branch, which ran between Grosvenor and Morenci. (In […]
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Photo day—at the Huron and Eastern Railway
On the occasion of Transportation Week in Michigan in 1989, the Huron and Eastern Railway organized an open house in its headquarters city of Bad Axe, MI on Saturday, 20 May 1989. For this celebration, several events took place: an […]