Folks,
On January 14, 2019, Lerro Productions ran a photo charter on Michigan's Huckleberry Railroad, featuring Locomotive's US 152 and DRGW 464, along with a number of historic wooden coaches. The Huckleberry Railroad is a roughly 4-mile, 36" gauge tourist railroad, operating on former Pere Marquette right-of-way, just outside Flint, Michigan, in the township of Genesee. The line's passenger depot is located in the Crossroads Village attraction, which I believe is run by the Genesee County Parks & Recreation Commission. Like most tourist railroads, it doesn't typically operate in January, but an exception was made for this private charter. Although we had all been hoping for some snow, we were fortunate to have a nice, sunny, cold Michigan day, which provided dense, steamy exhaust plumes and great light for photography. Pete Lerro did a great job organizing the event, and the crews at the Huckleberry did the rest, putting on a great show with their beautifully maintained and very photogenic trains. I think that a number of more well-known narrow gauge lines would be most envious of the great string of historic wooden coaches these folks have. Narrow gauge equipment like that might have been very available on the market when this line was built in the 1970s, but certainly not today. The line is unique among tourist railroads in that it has balloon loops on both ends for turning. Laid out a bit like a great, big model railroad, the power is always facing forward, which makes the place even more fun to photograph.
I've put together a small Flickr album of images taken during this trip, as well as a few shots that I took during my last visit in 2009. It had definitely been too long between visits, but well worth the wait to see both of their steamers in action in great light. If you've never been there, take a look and see what you have been missing.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/112261457@N06/albums/72157706738134454If you're considering places to vacation this summer, consider the Detroit area. There are a number of steam railroads in the region besides the Huckleberry that you can also visit. Among them, the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso, Greenfield Village in Dearborn, and the Little River Railroad in Coldwater.
/Kevin Madore
