U.S. 152. Tucked away in the engine house at Michigan's Huckleberry Railroad is one of the prettiest 10-wheelers in existence. This narrow gauge beauty was built in 1920 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, for the Alaska Engineering Commission (AEC). It was used in building the Alaska Railroad, when that railroad was 36" gauge. When the line was later rebuilt to standard gauge, she became surplus and was placed in storage. In 1942, she was acquired by the US Army for use on the White Pass & Yukon. While she was apparently shipped to Skagway, she was never offloaded and never actually used there. With just 16,300 lbs of tractive effort, she'd have been pretty light for that line. After the war, she changed hands several times, before finally being acquired by her current owner, the Huckleberry Railroad in 1975. The "Huck" is a tourist operation in Flint, Michigan that hauls passengers out of Crossroads Village and along the shores of Mott Lake. She is pictured here at rest in the line's engine house in 2009, just prior to going down for a 1472-day inspection. The folks at the Huckleberry Railroad maintain her in her military green, US Army paint scheme as US 152. Photo taken with the kind permission of the Railroad Superintendent.
