Nostalgia & History > DT&I 423

DT&I 423 is nearing the tower guarding the Chessie System/DT&I diamonds in Carleton, Michigan on March 30, 1983.
1.) Full image
2.) Crop of tower
Bob

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Here's a set of C&O orders copied at Carleton on 2/22/73 for Extra 5903 North.  Eng 5903 was a GP9.

Images 1 thru 3 - Clearance + T.O.'s 2-3 delivered to X5903N at Carleton MI 2/22/73

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Thanks so much. These orders help bring the railroad, the tower, and its operations into better focus.
Bob

Nice shots, never alot of DT&I on here.

Great shot of a neat railroad, at a classic location.  The tower was still there a few years ago, last time I passed through, although boarded up.  In the early 70's, the DT&I was running up to 10 trains a day through Carleton, sometimes even more if they ran two Delta turns out of Flat Rock on the same day.  In those days, DT&I interchanged cars at most of the locations in Ohio where their main line intersected another main line railroad, and there always seemed to be a train going over the hump at Flat Rock Yard, just north of here.  Much of that traffic went away during the late 70's and 80's with the downsizing and restructuring of the automotive industry, especially the loss of auto parts traffic.  The downward spiral and eventual closing of McClouth Steel, a big DT&I customer in Trenton MI, also hurt.  

I believe the tower operators were C&O employees.  PRR / PC trains also passed through here using trackage rights on the C&O between Toledo and Carleton.  The junction with the PRR was just a block north of the tower.  PRR had its own line between Carleton and Detroit.  

So much history in 1 photo. Love the semaphore signals.

Cool images, thanks for sharing seeing as my aunt and uncle lived in Carleton and I grew up not too far away. Brings back lots of memories watching trains here. DT&I really is overlooked here on TO, not sure why since they were a busy railroad. Incidentally, the service plans for the 60's and 70s showed 14-18 scheduled freights most days south out of Flat Rock, not counting extras and locals. Couple that with the 20-25 (or more) trains a day on the Chessie, Carleton was often a busy place. Furthermore, in the late 70s (maybe 78-79) for a year or more when CR was rebuilding the northward track on their Detroit Line, they sent all the northbound freights (10-15 a day) to Detroit through Carleton and up the ex-PRR Lincoln Secondary so the MOW could have unfettered access to rebuild without interruption from passing trains. This made Carleton a very busy and interesting place. Too bad I was a bit too young to photograph any action until the mid- to late-80s, but remember the photos in my head!

Here's a shot of a NB GTW train passing the tower in the late 80s...

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