RailRoadFan.com

From Berrien County's Court House Square History Collection

THIS PM/C&O PHOTO IS AWESOME! I feel like images of passenger trains west of Grand Rapids seem to be more rare than those between GR and Detroit. And in high resolution, too. I could do some sleuthing to guess the year. A PM unit in C&O paint but with PM lettering and modified porthole windows should be fairly easy to narrow down. Not to mention the automobiles...

Either way, it appears I was about three steps to the left of that photographer perhaps about 50 years later, around 2007, when I snapped this photo of the morning Pere Marquette having just boarded its Chicago-bound passengers and whistled off. The depot has really changed since then - I support Silver Beach Pizza and their immense popularity, but you almost can't recognize the depot any more under all the various additions. Is there even still a corner for waiting Amtrak passengers to sit? At one, point, it was in the bay window, but I fear there's a Pizza Hut style buffet in there now....

Looks like a '56 Ford & a '55 or '56 Chevy.

The License plate is dark letters on light background so my guess would be 1956, could be '58 or '59.