thumb|300px|Harbor Springs #1, a [[locomotive frame|frameless geared locomotive built by Ephraim Shay.]]
The Harbor Springs Railway was a narrow-gauge railway built at 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, on February 2, 1902, but may have started construction as early as December 10, 1900.
History
It was primarily a lumber-hauling operation, although summer vacationing tourists were carried for a fare of 25¢. It originally operated a route of to Stutsman and Race Mill; it was extended a mile to Carter's Mill in 1904. Small temporary branches were also constructed as well as the moving of the right of way when logging operations moved, as was typical for a logging railroad.
The line was laid with very light rail of and worked by three locomotives built by the railroad to the design of its president and general manager, Ephraim Shay. They were geared locomotives of the typical Shay pattern but were unusual in that they had no frames, the boiler being the main structural component. The line was built and funded without debt (thanks to Shay's royalties and licenses from his locomotive designs), and by 1906 the investment in physical plant was estimated at $51,346 (equivalent to $ in ). while Hilton places it in "about 1911". Both agree that the company dissolved in 1912.