Not many people remember there was once a trolley that ran from Huntington to Lee. It was in the planning and construction stage for years and cost a fabulous amount of money; but after operating just two seasons, it gave up the ghost, a failure and a three million dollar blunder. The transportation was badly needed by the people of the hill towns for themselves, and for the products they raised and manufactured as well as what they needed to be shipped in. It was hoped that the line would revive local soapstone, hearthstone, and granite quarries and carry timber out to market.
The line was intended to connect at Lee with the Pittsfield-Great Barrington line, and at the other end with the Western Mass. Street Railway which ran between Huntington and Westfield. As early as 1907 engineering surveys of two possible routes were made, either from Lee to Huntington via Algerie or Lee to Woronoco via Blandford and Otis. Years of wrangling followed which involved the State Legislature, the New Haven Railroad, lobbying by special groups, and residents of hill towns all naturally anxious to have the trolley run through their town. There seems to have been a "tug-of-war" over the two proposed routes - each side touting the pros and cons of each with numbers of population served, potential passengers, amount of "grade", distance and times involved, ease of construction, amount of freight, and scenic beauty. Hearings were held in the towns and in Boston with argument, shouting, and many letters sent back and forth.
Blandford wanted the line very much, and its residents organized to push its case. Enos Boise seems to have been the leader there, predicting that Springfield people would come in even greater numbers to Blandford in summer if the trolley came through the village from Woronoco.
Construction started from Lee even before the final decision was made on the choice of route to the east, and camps for Italian and Polish workers were built along the line. At one point construction was started toward Blandford, then abandoned. Work was concentrated on the so-called Chester route, though the line never entered Chester at all. The legal deadline for completion was August 1912, and since time was short it seemed necessary to strike straight through the brush down the mountain to Huntington. for a temporary route, and hope to lay a more correct line on a better grade later on. Construction was slow, and by late October contractors were still poking through the bushes hunting a practical route, though clearly the line down into Huntington would have sharp curves and steep grades. Gangs were cutting away the forest to prepare for the big steam shovels.
By 1913 the line was completed as far as the Otis-Blandford line, then a long cut in North Blandford gave months of trouble and men worked in shifts twenty-four hours a day. Locomotive whistles were heard tooting all night. The village of North Blandford had been by-passed because of proximity to the new Springfield water supply. In fact much of the town had been evicted. In the meantime the construction company was using the empty houses and stores for its work camp, and work went on around the clock. It is said the condemned village was lit by five thousand acetylene lamps. The deadline was again extended as construction bogged down due to muddy back country roads. While filling a small pond and swamp between North Blandford and Algerie, thirty thousand cubic yards of fill were dumped and sank out of sight. The crew gave up and shifted the line away from the edge to firmer ground.
The line was finally finished in November, 1913, and was expected to be ready for use the following spring. In the meantime the New Haven Railroad, who owned. the right of way and had sponsored construction, was involved in serious anti-trust suits. The government declared that all trolley lines then under New Haven Railroad control must be independently owned.
By August 1914 the line was still not operating, as the previous winter had caused washouts and slides in the fresh embankments, even undermining and burying the rails in spots. The rails did not actually join the Westfield Street Railroad according to one report; it would be necessary to transfer passengers and freight in Huntington. But Dick Carmel remembers that eventually there was a way of switching cars from the Westfield- Huntington line onto the Lee bound track at Huntington.
Finally in August 1915, a car left Pittsfield bound for Huntington. For some time previous to this, cars had been running from Pittsfield to East Lee. On this trip three pails of huckleberries were the first freight carried as three young folk returning from a berrying trip were invited aboard to ride down to Huntington where they lived. Huntington was ecstatic and a large crowd awaited this first car's arrival with tooting whistles and ringing bells. A group of hill-town men made the return trip over the mountain. The Huntington delegation was headed by Leonard Hardy, a prominent resident and a supporter of the project. The grade up out of Huntington onto Cook Mountain was mightly steep, a seven percent grade. Francis Knightly of Huntington, who had worked as water boy for a crew building the older Westfield-Huntington line, said he never rode the "Huckleberry Line" - he was too scared. It was three miles uphill to the top of the grade before it began to level out. At Huntington the track ended in a lot beside St. Regis store (now Dupelles), coming in diagonally within ten feet of the Westfield line. The town hay scales formerly occupied the site (now the Huntington Package store and area). Apparently there were no side tracks in Huntington except for the four "catch- tracks" for runaways, spaced every three- fourths of a mile on the grade up the mountain. A portable substation was set at the top of the hill out of Huntington, and the cars went right up with no trouble. Coming down was not so simple. The first car over the line was promptly condemned by the state safety inspector who insisted that an extra air compressor and tank be installed for safety on the grade. The run "down mountain", stopping to open and close each of the four safety switches on the steep grade was difficult. Once an inexperienced man took a run over the line in a snow storm, and being hesitant to attempt the trip down to Huntington, wisely chickened out, backed into the Blandford siding and telephoned excuses to the dispatcher in Pittsfield.
The Lee "Gleaner" wrote that the line was first class to Blandford but from there to Huntington a very ordinary and crooked trolley route. It did mention the tons of huckleberries along the way awaiting pickers and markets. Perhaps this publicity initiated the name “Huckleberry Railroad".
Even the two seasons the trolley did run, passenger travel was light. On good days maybe a dozen fares; Sunday excursions 20-25; all very disappointing. It was considered a fine Sunday outing to ride the trolley to Lee and perhaps on to Pittsfield, returning to Huntington in the evening. Otherwise most of the passengers were hunters and fishermen. Were the reasons for the limited use high fares, poor scheduling, lack of publicity, actual lack of potential passengers? Certainly none of the runs made good connections for Westfield. It was felt that the choice of route doomed the project from the beginning; that a route closer to existing villages of Otis, East Otis, Blandford, and down to Woronoco would have been more practical and successful from every standpoint.
The line did carry lots of draftees to the government induction center in Lee. Mr. Eddie Hayden of Huntington remembered riding up for his exam the beautiful ride through the countryside, and the hand- some trolley cars, dark oak colored, open in summer and closed in cold weather. He also remembered one hair-raising trip when some boys playing on a flatcar, using a pole poked through a hole in the floor to bear on a wheel as a brake, lost the pole and came down "like hell" smashing into a building. No serious injuries! Alice Britton tells about her father, George Pierce, barely escaping death while riding. the Huckleberry Line up to Lee for his induction exam. He and a friend were standing on the rear platform, and during a violent thunderstorm a bolt of lightning hit the car and split the handrail right in front of them.
The line by-passed villages in this thinly populated area, but some grain, produce, fertilizer, and coal were shipped in. Stone, lumber, and cordwood were carried out. Farm wives could write an order to Lee and the obliging grocery store put the box on the returning trolley for delivery.
Service was suspended in the fall of 1917 due to shortage of men during World War I. Service resumed from April to October 1918, and stopped again. The The excuse was that the flu epidemic and unsettled labor conditions and the strike on the Berkshire Street Railway limited both passengers and workers. To make matters worse the line had operated at a deficit and the New Haven Railroad, still the actual owner, was no longer willing to invest more money. Autos competed even with more prosperous trolley lines, and labor and material costs were skyrocket- ing. All the railroads were in a financial mess after the war, and the Huckleberry Line was only one of many that were discontinued and then scrapped. Granite contracts kept the line operating from Lee to the Newall Quarry until 1925, but by 1929 rails were being taken up and used elsewhere.
After the Berskhire Street Railway went into bankruptcy, Western Mass. Electric Company acquired the right of way for a possible cross-Berkshire power line which was finally built during the 1950s. Today the trolley line can be easily followed along the power line in many places, and would provide fine hiking in good weather. The old trolley route is marked clearly on area U.S. Geological Survey maps. From Huntington it climbs steeply and more or less joins the Huntington-Blandford Road above Cochran Pond, then veers off to cross North Street in Blandford close to the Turnpike crossing nearly two miles from Blandford Village. It parallels Gore Road and then North Blandford Road, veering off north to by-pass the town of North Blandford near Beaver Pond. Again running close to the existing road, it cross- es Algerie Road, then runs close to Creek Pond and White Lilly Pond in Otis State Forest. It continues, winding its way between swamps and bogs, passing near several quarries shown on the map, into a corner of Becket, and crosses the Massachusetts Turnpike near Ward Pond. From there into Lee the Massachusetts Turnpike now follows the old route along the side of Greenwater Pond.
If you are interested in knowing the story of the "Huckleberry Line" in more detail see Chronicle on the Huckleberry written by Leanord H. Spencer in 1967, and now available in local libraries.
from Stone Walls Magazine, 1985
The line was intended to connect at Lee with the Pittsfield-Great Barrington line, and at the other end with the Western Mass. Street Railway which ran between Huntington and Westfield. As early as 1907 engineering surveys of two possible routes were made, either from Lee to Huntington via Algerie or Lee to Woronoco via Blandford and Otis. Years of wrangling followed which involved the State Legislature, the New Haven Railroad, lobbying by special groups, and residents of hill towns all naturally anxious to have the trolley run through their town. There seems to have been a "tug-of-war" over the two proposed routes - each side touting the pros and cons of each with numbers of population served, potential passengers, amount of "grade", distance and times involved, ease of construction, amount of freight, and scenic beauty. Hearings were held in the towns and in Boston with argument, shouting, and many letters sent back and forth.
Blandford wanted the line very much, and its residents organized to push its case. Enos Boise seems to have been the leader there, predicting that Springfield people would come in even greater numbers to Blandford in summer if the trolley came through the village from Woronoco.
Construction started from Lee even before the final decision was made on the choice of route to the east, and camps for Italian and Polish workers were built along the line. At one point construction was started toward Blandford, then abandoned. Work was concentrated on the so-called Chester route, though the line never entered Chester at all. The legal deadline for completion was August 1912, and since time was short it seemed necessary to strike straight through the brush down the mountain to Huntington. for a temporary route, and hope to lay a more correct line on a better grade later on. Construction was slow, and by late October contractors were still poking through the bushes hunting a practical route, though clearly the line down into Huntington would have sharp curves and steep grades. Gangs were cutting away the forest to prepare for the big steam shovels.
By 1913 the line was completed as far as the Otis-Blandford line, then a long cut in North Blandford gave months of trouble and men worked in shifts twenty-four hours a day. Locomotive whistles were heard tooting all night. The village of North Blandford had been by-passed because of proximity to the new Springfield water supply. In fact much of the town had been evicted. In the meantime the construction company was using the empty houses and stores for its work camp, and work went on around the clock. It is said the condemned village was lit by five thousand acetylene lamps. The deadline was again extended as construction bogged down due to muddy back country roads. While filling a small pond and swamp between North Blandford and Algerie, thirty thousand cubic yards of fill were dumped and sank out of sight. The crew gave up and shifted the line away from the edge to firmer ground.
The line was finally finished in November, 1913, and was expected to be ready for use the following spring. In the meantime the New Haven Railroad, who owned. the right of way and had sponsored construction, was involved in serious anti-trust suits. The government declared that all trolley lines then under New Haven Railroad control must be independently owned.
By August 1914 the line was still not operating, as the previous winter had caused washouts and slides in the fresh embankments, even undermining and burying the rails in spots. The rails did not actually join the Westfield Street Railroad according to one report; it would be necessary to transfer passengers and freight in Huntington. But Dick Carmel remembers that eventually there was a way of switching cars from the Westfield- Huntington line onto the Lee bound track at Huntington.
Finally in August 1915, a car left Pittsfield bound for Huntington. For some time previous to this, cars had been running from Pittsfield to East Lee. On this trip three pails of huckleberries were the first freight carried as three young folk returning from a berrying trip were invited aboard to ride down to Huntington where they lived. Huntington was ecstatic and a large crowd awaited this first car's arrival with tooting whistles and ringing bells. A group of hill-town men made the return trip over the mountain. The Huntington delegation was headed by Leonard Hardy, a prominent resident and a supporter of the project. The grade up out of Huntington onto Cook Mountain was mightly steep, a seven percent grade. Francis Knightly of Huntington, who had worked as water boy for a crew building the older Westfield-Huntington line, said he never rode the "Huckleberry Line" - he was too scared. It was three miles uphill to the top of the grade before it began to level out. At Huntington the track ended in a lot beside St. Regis store (now Dupelles), coming in diagonally within ten feet of the Westfield line. The town hay scales formerly occupied the site (now the Huntington Package store and area). Apparently there were no side tracks in Huntington except for the four "catch- tracks" for runaways, spaced every three- fourths of a mile on the grade up the mountain. A portable substation was set at the top of the hill out of Huntington, and the cars went right up with no trouble. Coming down was not so simple. The first car over the line was promptly condemned by the state safety inspector who insisted that an extra air compressor and tank be installed for safety on the grade. The run "down mountain", stopping to open and close each of the four safety switches on the steep grade was difficult. Once an inexperienced man took a run over the line in a snow storm, and being hesitant to attempt the trip down to Huntington, wisely chickened out, backed into the Blandford siding and telephoned excuses to the dispatcher in Pittsfield.
The Lee "Gleaner" wrote that the line was first class to Blandford but from there to Huntington a very ordinary and crooked trolley route. It did mention the tons of huckleberries along the way awaiting pickers and markets. Perhaps this publicity initiated the name “Huckleberry Railroad".
Even the two seasons the trolley did run, passenger travel was light. On good days maybe a dozen fares; Sunday excursions 20-25; all very disappointing. It was considered a fine Sunday outing to ride the trolley to Lee and perhaps on to Pittsfield, returning to Huntington in the evening. Otherwise most of the passengers were hunters and fishermen. Were the reasons for the limited use high fares, poor scheduling, lack of publicity, actual lack of potential passengers? Certainly none of the runs made good connections for Westfield. It was felt that the choice of route doomed the project from the beginning; that a route closer to existing villages of Otis, East Otis, Blandford, and down to Woronoco would have been more practical and successful from every standpoint.
The line did carry lots of draftees to the government induction center in Lee. Mr. Eddie Hayden of Huntington remembered riding up for his exam the beautiful ride through the countryside, and the hand- some trolley cars, dark oak colored, open in summer and closed in cold weather. He also remembered one hair-raising trip when some boys playing on a flatcar, using a pole poked through a hole in the floor to bear on a wheel as a brake, lost the pole and came down "like hell" smashing into a building. No serious injuries! Alice Britton tells about her father, George Pierce, barely escaping death while riding. the Huckleberry Line up to Lee for his induction exam. He and a friend were standing on the rear platform, and during a violent thunderstorm a bolt of lightning hit the car and split the handrail right in front of them.
The line by-passed villages in this thinly populated area, but some grain, produce, fertilizer, and coal were shipped in. Stone, lumber, and cordwood were carried out. Farm wives could write an order to Lee and the obliging grocery store put the box on the returning trolley for delivery.
Service was suspended in the fall of 1917 due to shortage of men during World War I. Service resumed from April to October 1918, and stopped again. The The excuse was that the flu epidemic and unsettled labor conditions and the strike on the Berkshire Street Railway limited both passengers and workers. To make matters worse the line had operated at a deficit and the New Haven Railroad, still the actual owner, was no longer willing to invest more money. Autos competed even with more prosperous trolley lines, and labor and material costs were skyrocket- ing. All the railroads were in a financial mess after the war, and the Huckleberry Line was only one of many that were discontinued and then scrapped. Granite contracts kept the line operating from Lee to the Newall Quarry until 1925, but by 1929 rails were being taken up and used elsewhere.
After the Berskhire Street Railway went into bankruptcy, Western Mass. Electric Company acquired the right of way for a possible cross-Berkshire power line which was finally built during the 1950s. Today the trolley line can be easily followed along the power line in many places, and would provide fine hiking in good weather. The old trolley route is marked clearly on area U.S. Geological Survey maps. From Huntington it climbs steeply and more or less joins the Huntington-Blandford Road above Cochran Pond, then veers off to cross North Street in Blandford close to the Turnpike crossing nearly two miles from Blandford Village. It parallels Gore Road and then North Blandford Road, veering off north to by-pass the town of North Blandford near Beaver Pond. Again running close to the existing road, it cross- es Algerie Road, then runs close to Creek Pond and White Lilly Pond in Otis State Forest. It continues, winding its way between swamps and bogs, passing near several quarries shown on the map, into a corner of Becket, and crosses the Massachusetts Turnpike near Ward Pond. From there into Lee the Massachusetts Turnpike now follows the old route along the side of Greenwater Pond.
If you are interested in knowing the story of the "Huckleberry Line" in more detail see Chronicle on the Huckleberry written by Leanord H. Spencer in 1967, and now available in local libraries.
from Stone Walls Magazine, 1985