Caption: Conrail has come and gone. Erie Lackawanna became part of Conrail the same year this photo was taken, 1976. This was the last time I ever saw any power marked EL enter Canada down at Fort Erie; and, although the image presented here is certainly not of best quality, it is historical non-the-less.The EL 1206 and 1200 are shown heading back to the States after visiting the sprawling Fort Erie CN yard. Extreme left one can see Central Av bridge and on the right, the modern replacement for the old Michigan Central station that was on the opposite side of the tracks here. This flat roofed structure has since been demolished, somewhere around 25 years ago. It had became expendable after the last run of any passenger train, the CP/TH&B Budds in 1981. [ Editors note: Those who may fret over quality - at the time this was accepted this is the second Erie-Lackawanna Image in the database. We challenge those with E-L images (or any other great classics) to submit them here, please :) ]
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Fort Erie was quite the place back in the day, with all the transfers coming over from Buffalo. Great shot.
Imagine parking undere the shade trees across from the station, with no hassles, and waiting out the possibility of B&M, Chessie, CR, D&H, EL, N&W, MEC or PC power bringing one of the usually 3 daily transfers over and back. Add that to the CN and Amtrak happenings and it all added up to “never a dull moment”. Added bonus was to check at the yard for trains coming in from Windsor. )