On the shores of Mott Lake. The early morning sun casts some long shadows as US 152 hauls a short passenger consist east along the shoreline of the ice-covered Mott Lake, headed for downtown Genesee Township.
Michigan's Huckleberry Railroad is definitely one of America's more unique tourist railroads. For one thing, it is the one of the few narrow gauge lines that's not built on original narrow gauge right-of-way. The original Huckleberry Railroad was part of the Flint Pere Marquette Railroad Company, which was organized back in 1857. It was nicknamed the Huckleberry Railroad because the trains ran so slow it was claimed you could hop off, pick a few huckleberries and get back on without much trouble. The Pere Marquette was later absorbed by the C&O and in the 1930s, was abandoned. When the present-day tourist line was developed in the 1970s, they elected to go with 36" gauge, mainly because narrow gauge equipment was pretty available at the time. The railroad acquired two historic steam locomotives and has accumulated 11 wooden passenger coaches, many of which date back to the 1800s and the Denver & Rio Grande. So, while the idea of a narrow gauge railroad in Michigan may not be historically authentic, the equipment on this line most definitely is.
