Cierny Hron Railway
Encyclopedia
Slovak Ore Mountains
Slovak Ore Mountains is an extensive mountainous region of Slovakia's Spiš and Gemer region, and in small part in northern Hungary, within the Carpathians. It is the largest mountain range in Slovakia...
, built as an industrial railway
Industrial railway
An industrial railway is a type of railway that is not available for public transportation and is used exclusively to serve a particular industrial, logistics or military site...
for logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
operations.
History
The planning for the railway began in 1898 and building began in 1908. In 1909 regular wood transport on the railway started, between Čierny BalogCierny Balog
Čierny Balog is a municipality in Brezno District, in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia.-History:The village arose after 1882 by a merge of 13 villages...
and Hronec
Hronec
Hronec is a village and municipality in Brezno District, in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia.-History:In historical records, the village was first mentioned in 1357, when it belonged to Ľupča. In 1405 it was given by Hungarian kings to the knight Paul...
. The network was extended to transport wood from the forests and by the middle of the 20th century the railway had a total length of 131,97 km, the most extensive forestry railway network in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
.
On 19 July 1927 passenger traffic was permitted on the railway between Čierny Balog and Hronec, which operated until 1962.
The railway was closed in 1982, but it has been granted national heritage status since. During the following few years it was repaired by enthusiasts and re-opened in 1992 as a heritage railway
Heritage railway
thumb|right|the Historical [[Khyber train safari|Khyber Railway]] goes through the [[Khyber Pass]], [[Pakistan]]A heritage railway , preserved railway , tourist railway , or tourist railroad is a railway that is run as a tourist attraction, in some cases by volunteers, and...
for tourists. The line is now 17 km long: Chvatimech - Hronec
Hronec
Hronec is a village and municipality in Brezno District, in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia.-History:In historical records, the village was first mentioned in 1357, when it belonged to Ľupča. In 1405 it was given by Hungarian kings to the knight Paul...
- Čierny Balog
Cierny Balog
Čierny Balog is a municipality in Brezno District, in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia.-History:The village arose after 1882 by a merge of 13 villages...
- Vydrovo.