CSX Y101-15 (Rougemere Yard Job) is heading east on the old Union Belt (now CSX Detroit Subdivision) with a load of perishables bound for the Detroit Produce Terminal at 13:10 on 11/15/97. Today Y101 has CSX GP-38 2012 with C&O cab# 904111. CSX tends to run their locals and yard jobs with a caboose in and around the Detroit/Plymouth area. 2012's days on CSX are numbered: he was retired from the rostor on 4/30/98 and leased to New Brunswick East Coast Railway. Later that year he was sold to National Railway Equipment, Silvis IL.
Photograph Copyright © 1997-2001 Brad Kindschy
Map © 1997-2001 Jeff Knorek
The Tower that stands at Delray today was built in 1945, replacing the original structure which was built before the Pere Marquette Railroad was even consolidated in 1900 (a long way of saying that we don't know when the original tower was built). The neighborhood of Delray itself was once the home of Detroit's Hungarian community. Back then, Delray Tower controlled the interlocking that funnelled all of the Wabash, Pere Marquette, and Pennsylvania Railroad passenger trains to Detroit's Fort Street Depot.
Delray Tower is among the best trainwatching spots in the Detroit area. It gets more traffic than any other junction in town, is still an operating tower, and is safe during the daytime when you are with a friend and a cellular phone. Take a scanner and a thick notepad with several pens. You will want a normal focal length lens and a portrait lens for your camera. A telephoto is handy, but the sight lines and angles are rather tight.
Lest we not forget; if you really want to take a nice picture at Delray:
Take a rake, a trash bag, and a pair of gloves Don't trespass And don't forget the friend with a cell phone
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This website and all contents herein Copyright 2001 by Jeff Knorek except where noted.