(left click to enlarge)As the card says, it's an Observation Train, somewhere around Harbor Springs, Michigan. The railroad, according to Wikipedia,was The Harbor Springs Railway, a 30 in. gauge built from Harbor Springs, Michigan on Little Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan.
It was nicknamed the Hemlock Central because of the great numbers of hemlock trees growing in the area. The railway was chartered by Ephraim Shay, the inventor of the Shay locomotive.
30" gauge, 16-pound rail, and stub switches. Didn't get much smaller than that.
This card may be a photo of one of Ephraim Shay's earliest locomotives, possibly his first. It may also be hand-colored, indicated by the tan coloring on the bottom that goes below the details of the photograph - and washes over the darker rails.
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