Branch lines south and west of Westbranch...
O.K., I dug out my SPV comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America "Great Lakes East" addition, which takes in Lower Peninsula of Michigan...these books are very well represented, and worth they're weight in gold. On Page 24/25, I find the two branches you are referring to. The one at Hauptman shows that it went pretty much westward for about 13 miles to Atchel Lake, where it turned more northerly until it reached a small settlement called Edno, right on the edge of Lake George. Just before Atchel Lake, there was a short branch southward for maybe 2 miles to a settlement called Nolan. Keep in mind these little places could have been nothing more than a logging load out or a mill back in the days. This was all Michigan Central branch, and lumber mills were common on these lakes. The other line shown on this map is another couple of miles south of Hauptman at a connection called Loranger and it ran slightly southwest for about 5 miles to the edge of Edwards Lake where there was also a small lumber mill years ago. One of these branch lines in my opinion would be the one that your story teller would have to been referring to. One thing that these SPV railroad maps do not show is the year(s) of abandonment, but as I stated, they are very well defined, and are a valuable tool for railroad researching purposes.
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