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Narrow gauge
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A narrow gauge railway (or narrow gauge railroad) is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of or less.
Overview
Since narrow gauge railways are usually built with smaller radius curves and smaller structure gauges, they can be substantially cheaper to build, equip, and operate than standard gauge or broad gauge railways, particularly in mountainous terrain. The lower costs of narrow gauge railways mean they are often built to serve industries and communities where the traffic potential would not justify the costs of building a standard or broad gauge line. Narrow gauge railways also have specialized use in mines and other environments where a very small structure gauge makes a very small loading gauge necessary. On the other hand, standard gauge or broad gauge railways generally have a greater haulage capacity and allow greater speeds than narrow gauge systems.
Historically, many narrow gauge railways were built as part of specific industrial enterprises and were primarily industrial railways rather than general carriers. Some common uses for these industrial narrow gauge railways were mining, logging, construction, tunnelling, quarrying, and the conveying of agricultural products. Extensive narrow gauge networks were constructed in many parts of the world for these purposes. Significant sugarcane railways still operate in Cuba, Fiji, Java, the Philippines and in Queensland in Australia. Narrow gauge railway equipment remains in common use for the construction of tunnels.
The other significant reason for narrow gauge railways to be constructed was to take advantage of reduced construction costs in mountainous or difficult terrain, hence the national railway systems of countries such as Indonesia, Japan and New Zealand are primarily or solely narrow gauge. Trench railways of the World War I western front demonstrate a brief military application of this advantage. Non-industrial narrow gauge mountain railways are or were common in the Rocky Mountains of the USA and the Pacific Cordillera of Canada, in Mexico, Switzerland, the former Yugoslavia, Greece, India, and Costa Rica. Another country with a notable national railway built to narrow gauge is South Africa where the "Cape gauge" of is the most common gauge. In India, the narrow gauge system is slowly being converted to broad gauge, although some of India's most famous railways, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and Kalka-Shimla Railway are both narrow gauge. All metre gauge railways are being converted to broad gauge uder the Unigauge project, and also a few narrow-gauge lines shall be converted to BG, shattering many railfans.
History of narrow gauge railways
The earliest recorded railway is shown in the De re metallica of 1556, which shows a mine in the Czech Republic with a railway of approximately gauge. During the 16th century railways were mainly restricted to hand-pushed narrow gauge lines in mines throughout Europe. During the 17th century mine railways were extended to provide transportation above ground. These lines were industrial, connecting mines with nearby transportation points, usually canals or other waterways. These railways were usually built to the same narrow gauge as the mine railways they developed from.
Advantages of narrow gauge Narrow gauge railways usually cost less to build because they are usually lighter in construction, using smaller cars and locomotives (smaller loading gauge) as well as smaller bridges, smaller tunnels (smaller structure gauge) and tighter curves. Narrow gauge is thus often used in mountainous terrain, where the savings in heavy civil engineering work can be substantial. It is also used in very sparsely populated areas where the potential demand is too low for the building of broader gauge railways to be economically viable. This is the case in most of Australia and Southern Africa, where extremely old soils can support only population densities too low for standard gauge to be viable.
There are many narrow gauge street tramways, particularly in Europe where gauge tramways are common. Narrow gauge allows even tighter turning than gauge or gauge in restricted city streets. The tighter turning circle also make balloon loops at the end of routes easier, which in turn allows the use of unidirectional trams with a driver's cab at one end only, and doors on one side, and thus more space for passengers.
Extensive narrow gauge railway systems served the front-line trenches of both sides in World War I. After the end of the war the surplus equipment from these railways created a small boom in the building of narrow gauge railways in Europe.
For temporary railroads that will be removed after a short-term need, such as for construction, the logging industry and the mining industry, a narrow gauge railroad is substantially cheaper and easier to install and remove. However, this use of railroads is almost extinct thanks to the capabilities of modern trucks.
In many countries narrow gauge railroads were built as "feeder" or "branch" lines to feed traffic to more important standard gauge railroads, due to their lower construction costs. The choice was often not between a narrow gauge railroad and a standard gauge one, but between a narrow gauge railroad and none at all.
Disadvantages of narrow gauge Narrow gauge railroads cannot interchange equipment such as freight and passenger cars freely with the standard gauge or broad gauge railroads they link with, unless they exchange bogies. That means that narrow gauge lines have a built-in cost of transshipping people and freight to the mainline railway system. The cost of transshipment can be a substantial drain on the finances of a railroad because it involves expensive and time consuming manual labour or substantial capital expenditure. Some bulk commodities, such as coal, ore and gravel, can be mechanically transshipped, but this still incurs time penalties and these mechanical devices are often complex to maintain.
One solution to the problem of transshipment is bogie exchange between cars. Another solution to this problem is the roll-block system. Although successfully deployed in some countries such as Germany and Austria, this technique came too late for the majority of narrow gauge lines. Transfer of containers is also an option.
The problem of interchangeability is less serious for regions that have a large system of narrow gauge lines, such as northern Spain, and does not exist in those countries in which the narrow gauge is the standard, such as New Zealand, South Africa and the Australian island state of Tasmania.
The problem of interchangeability is more serious in North America because a continent-wide system of freight car interchange developed. All the standard gauge railways in North America use the same standard couplings and air brakes, which means that freight cars can be freely interchanged between railways from Northern Canada to Southern Mexico. Railways who need more freight cars can simply borrow them from other railways during peak periods, while the railways who own the cars receive payments for them at rates set by common agreement. Peak demand, particularly for grain shipment, occurs in different parts of North America at different times, so freight cars are shuffled back and forth across the continent to wherever they are needed. Motive power can also be interchanged, which sometimes results in Mexican locomotives pulling Canadian freight cars and vice versa.
Narrow gauge railways could not participate in this system, which meant that they usually had to own several times as much rolling stock as equivalent standard gauge railways, and they did not receive any cash flow for surplus equipment during periods of low demand. All these problems also exist for railways with a broader gauge than (the local) standard, but such railways are generally less common. Since most narrow gauge railways were undercapitalized to begin with, this eventually resulted in nearly all North American narrow gauge railways either going bankrupt or being converted to standard gauge.
Another problem with narrow gauge railroads is that they lacked room to grow - their cheap construction was bought at the price of being engineered only for their initial traffic demands. While a standard or broad gauge railroad could more easily be upgraded to handle heavier, faster traffic, many narrow gauge railroads were impractical to improve. Speeds and loads hauled could not increase, so traffic density was significantly limited.
Narrow gauge railroads can be built to handle increased speed and loading, but at the price of removing most of the narrow gauge's cost advantage over standard or broad gauge.
Because of the reduced stability of narrower gauge, narrow gauge trains are not able to run at nearly the same high speeds as those networks with broader gauges unless the tracks are aligned with greater precision. However in Japan and Queensland, Australia, recent permanent way improvements have allowed trains on 1067 mm gauge tracks to run at 160 km/h (100 mph) and higher. Queensland Rail's tilt train is presently the fastest train in Australia, despite the gauge it runs on. Standard gauge or broad gauge trains can run at up to 320 km/h (200 mph); this is most evident in the case of the Japanese Shinkansen, a network of standard gauge lines built solely for high speed rail in a country where narrow gauge is the predominant standard.
Exceptions to the rule The heavy duty narrow gauge railways in Australia (eg Queensland), South Africa and New Zealand, show that if the track is built to a heavy-duty standard, a performance almost as good as a standard gauge line is possible. 200-car trains operate on the Sishen-Saldanha railroad in South Africa, and high-speed tilt-trains in Queensland (see below). Another example of a heavy-duty narrow gauge line is EFVM in Brazil. gauge, it has over-100-pound rail and a loading gauge almost as large as US non-excess-height lines. It sees 4000 hp locomotives and 200+ car trains. In South Africa and New Zealand, the loading gauge is similar to the restricted British loading gauge, and in New Zealand some British Rail Mark 2 carriages have been rebuilt with new bogies for use by Tranz Scenic (Wellington-Palmerston North service), Tranz Metro (Wellington-Masterton service) and Veolia (Auckland suburban services).
It is possible to build standard and even broad gauge lines cheaply to light railway standards with short radii (tight curves) and steep grades, instead of building narrow gauge lines. The trains operate at lower speeds and with lower capacities. This allows through-routeing of rolling stock, and simplifies later upgrading.
Gauges used
There are many narrow gauges in use or formerly used between gauge and gauge. They fall into three broad categories:
Medium gauge railways
Railways built on gauges between and are sometimes referred to as "medium-gauge" railways.
In those parts of the world where the railroads were built to British standards, this meant most commonly a gauge of or the "Cape Gauge", while those built to American standards were normally . Railways built to European metric standards were most commonly of or "metre gauge" and gauge.
These larger narrow gauges are capable of hauling most traffic with little difficulty and are thus suitable for large-scale "common carrier" applications, although their ultimate speed and load limits are lower than for standard gauge.
Two foot gauge railways
The next natural "grouping" of narrow gauge railroads covers the range from just below to just below , although the majority are between and . These lightweight lines can be built at a substantial cost saving over medium or standard gauge railways, but are generally restricted in their carrying capacity. The majority of these were built in mountainous areas and most were to carry mineral traffic from mines to ports or standard gauge railroads. Many were industrial lines rather than common carriers, though there were exceptions such as the extensive lines built in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the "Maine two footer" lines in New England. Trench railways of World War I produced the greatest concentration of two foot gauge railways observed to date. The most common metric gauges in this group are and .
Minimum gauge railways
Gauges below were rare, but did exist. In Britain, Sir Arthur Heywood developed gauge estate railways, while in France Decauville produced a range of industrial railways running on and tracks, most commonly in such restricted environments such as underground mine railways. A number of gauge railways were built in Britain to serve ammunition depots and other military facilities, particularly during the First World War.
Narrow gauge railways less than gauge are known as minimum gauge railways.
Narrow gauge worldwide
Europe
Austria The first railway in Austria was the narrow gauge line from Gmunden in the Salzkammergut to Budweis, now in the Czech Republic, this was gauge. Some two dozen lines were built in gauge , a few in gauge. The first was the Steyrtalbahn. Others were built by provincial governments, some lines are still in common carrier use and a number of others are preservation projects. The tramway network in Innsbruck is also metre gauge; in Linz the rather unusual gauge of is in use.
Bulgaria From the 19th into the early 20th there were many and gauge railways in Bulgaria, but today, only 245 km remain. This is the Septemvri - Dobrinishte line, where the highest railway station on the Balkan peninsula is situated. The line although in a worn out condition, is still actively used - the trains are pulled by Henschel locos. One of the old steam locomotives has been restored recently and is used occasionally for hauling tourist trains. The extensive Sofia tramway network is also metre gauge.
Belarus Belarus has one operating gauge Children's railway, located in Minsk. Locos - TU2.
Some industrial narrow gauge railways can still be found in Belarus particularly associated with the peat extraction industry.
Belgium The Vicinal or Buurtspoor were a system of narrow gauge local railways or tramways covering the whole country and having a greater routage than the mainline railway system. They were gauge and the system included electrified city lines as well as rural lines using steam locomotives and railcars; half of the system was electrified. Many lines carried freight. Only the coastal line and two routes near Charleroi are still in commercial use, four museums hold significant collections of former SNCV/NMBS rolling stock, one of which is the ASVi museum in Thuin. The tramway networks in Antwerp and Ghent are also metre gauge.
Czech Republic
Several lines were built in the nineteenth century. The most notable lines are Obratan-Jindrichuv Hradec-Nová Bystrice and Tremešná ve Slezsku-Osoblaha, that are still in operation.
Estonia Four museums lines and some industrial peat railways remain in Estonia. The houses a large collection of steam and diesel locomotives with a 2km long gauge railway. There is a museum with a gauge, 500m long line in Avinurme which houses one locomotive and a collection of wagons. An underground museum with a short electric line is located in Kivioli. A former military railway line with a gauge is located on Naissaar Island.
Finland The vast majority of Finnish narrow gauge railways were owned and operated by private companies. There are only a few instances where narrow gauge railways were in direct connection with each other, and those interchanges did not last for long. The railways never formed a regional rail traffic network, but were only focused on maintaining connections between the national broad gauge railway network and the off-line industries. One of the longest common carriers was the Lovisa-Wesijärvi railway (1900–1960) that operated a 80-kilometre (50-mile) line between Lahti and Loviisa. Other notable ones were the Hyvinkää–Karkkila railway that operated a 46-kilometre (28-mile) line, and the Jokioinen railway that operated a 23-kilometre (14-mile) line until 1974, being the last common carrier narrow gauge railway.
Other lines were notably shorter. The common gauges were and , with a few railways built with and gauges.
Narrow gauge tourist and heritage lines of and gauge still operate.
France The French National Railways used to run a considerable number of lines, a few of which still operate mostly in tourist areas, such as the St Gervais-Vallorcine (Alps) and the "Train Jaune" (yellow train) in the Pyrenees. The original French scheme was that every sous-prefecture should be rail connected. Extensive near gauge lines were also built for the sugar-beet industry in the north often using ex-military equipment after the First World War. Decauville was a famous French manufacturer of industrial narrow gauge railway equipment and equipped one of the most extensive regional narrow gauge railway, the Chemins de Fer du Calvados. Corsica has a narrow gauge network of two lines following the coast line, that are connected by one line crossing the island through highly mountaineous terrain.
The railway of Artouste lake (Chemin de Fer de Lac d'Artouste) in the Pyrenees, use 500mm gauge.
Germany A number of narrow gauge lines survive, largely as a consequence of German reunification, in the former East Germany where some of them form part of the public transport system as active commercial carriers. Most extensive of those still employing steam traction is the Harz mountain group of metre-gauge lines, the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen. Other notable lines are the Zittau-Oybin-Jonsdorf line in Saxony, the Mollibahn and the Rügensche Kleinbahn on the Isle of Rügen on the Baltic coast and the Radebeul-Radeburg line in the suburbs of Dresden. Although most rely on the tourist trade, in some areas they provide significant employment as steam traction is particularly labour intensive.
In the Western part of Germany, Selfkantbahn (close to Heinsberg near Aachen) and Brohltalbahn are the best known ones, offering services in summer weekends.
See also Narrow gauge railways in Saxony
Greece
The Peloponnese narrow gauge network length is about 914 km. Of this, gauge is used for 892 km. This is the network that connects major cities in the Peloponnese. The remaining 22 km form the Diakofton-Kalavryta rack railway, which uses gauge. The Peloponnese network has suffered various setbacks, ranging from the abandonment of entire lines (such as the Pyrgos-Katakolon railway) to inefficient management on part of the public Greek railway operator, OSE, which resulted in poor quality of services and rolling stock). Currently major restoration works are carried out, which have resulted in parts of the line having been closed. Additionally, the reactivation of certain lines that were closed down during the latter half of the 20th century is planned, mainly the Pyrgos-Katakolon line and in parts of western Greece (around Agrinion and Messologgi).
Another small railway that uses narrow gauge is the Mt. Pelion railway, originally from Volos to Milies. Currently parts of the line are operational during the summer, mainly for excursions.
There was also a metre gauge network in Thessaly. This has now been replaced with single track standard gauge lines from Volos to Larissa and Palaiofarsalos to Kalampaka. However, the old narrow gauge tracks remain in place between Velestino and Palaiofarsalos via Aerino, so that occasional special excursion trains use them.
A metric line network existed in Attica, operated by Attica Railways and later by SPAP. The line ran from the center of Athens to Kifissia and Lavrion, serving the suburbs and towns of the region as well as Dionysos marble quarries and Lavrion mines. The line to Kifissia closed in 1938 and was reopened as standard gauge in the 1950s, operated by ISAP. The line to Lavrion closed in 1957 due to political pressures from the road transport lobby. Sections of the Lavrion line still survive and there are plans to reopen the southern part (Koropi-Lavrion) as an electrified standard gauge suburban line.
Development of open lignite mines for electricity production led to the construction of industrial railway networks in Ptolemais, Western Macedonia (industrial gauge, electrified) and Aliveri, Evoia Island (metric gauge). These networks are no longer active, as the lignite mines they served are exhausted.
The railway in Diakofto-Kalavryta and the in Volos-Milies (the current operational line is Lechonia-Milies, since the part Volos-Lechonia was abandoned) are heritage railroads. The network of Peloponnese, however, is a busy passenger line, although there are no longer freight trains. A major project has started to construct new lines in the busiest parts of Peloponnese and rebuild the century old tracks in the remaining. The branch lines rom Asprohoma to Messini and from Pyrgos to Katakolo were re-openned for passenger services in September and April 2007 respectively and the Argosto Nafplio line is expected to follow, when services are reinstated on the Korinthos to Tripolis line in late 2008.
It is the only extensive and authoritative source for the history of Greek railways.
Contains brief history, simple line maps ans extensive list of rolling stock until 1997.
Hungary The former Kingdom boasted a narrow gauge network thousands of kilometres in length, most of it using gauge and constructed between 1870 and 1920. Landlords, mines, agricultural and forest estates established their own branch lines which, as they united into regional networks, increasingly played a role in regional passenger traffic. Following the Treaty of Trianon some railways were cut by the new border, many remained on the territory of Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. For a lack of intact roads, following World War II in many places narrow-gauge railway was the only reasonable way to get around. In 1968 the Communist government started to implement a policy to dismantle the narrow-gauge network in favour of road traffic. Freight haulage on the few remaining lines continued to decline until 1990 from when a patchwork of railways was gradually taken over by associations and forest managements for tourist purposes. State Railways operate narrow-gauge railways at Nyíregyháza and Kecskemét that continue to play a role in regional transport. Children aged 10 to 14 provide services at the Budapest .
Ireland Several narrow gauge systems once existed in Ireland. In County Donegal an extensive network existed, with two companies operating from Derry – the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway and the County Donegal Railways. Well known was the West Clare Railway – in County Clare, which saw diesel locomotion before closure. The Cavan & Leitrim Railway operated in what is now the border area of County Cavan and County Leitrim. Some smaller narrow gauge routes also existed in County Antrim and also County Cork – notably the Cork Blackrock & Passage Railway.
Apart from small heritage venues, the Irish narrow gauge today only survives in the bogs of the Midlands as part of Bord na Móna's extensive industrial network for transporting harvested peat to distribution centres or power plants.
See also: History of rail transport in Ireland
Italy
Narrow gauge railways in Italy are (or were) mainly build with gauge, with some gauge lines and with a few other gauges.
In Sardinia, a network of narrow gauge lines (950 mm) was built, to complement the standard-gauge main network which covered the main cities and ports. The lines were:
Of the lines which are still present, only
still carry regular passenger services, operated by . The others only operate a scenic tourist service known as (small green train)
In Sicily, the Ferrovia Circumetnea (950 mm gauge) runs around the Mount Etna. Other narrow gauge lines (950 mm) operated, the most important of which was the Castelvetrano-Porto Empedocle, but are now closed.
In Trento (Trentino) only narrow gauge lines (1000 mm) from Trento to Malč and Marilleva are still operating.
In Bolzano-Bozen (Alto Adige/South Tyrol) there are two 1000m gauge lines: the Rittnerbahn, or Ferrovia del Renon, a very nice rural tramway and the Laas-Lasa railway to marble cave, that use a funicular too. There are two touristic mines using 600mm gauge trains.
Between Naples and Sorrento, around the base of Mt. Vesuvius, the Circumvesuviana railway operates frequent services on narrow gauge (950 mm) tracks.
Isle of ManBoth main railways in the Isle of Man are of gauge. The Isle of Man Steam Railway to the southwest is operated largely as a tourist attraction but the Manx Electric Railway to the northeast is a commercially operated railway system though its operation is closer to that of a tramway than a railway. The Snaefell Mountain Railway, climbs the island's main peak and has a gauge of ; it is the sole operating Fell Incline Railway System in the world.
Latvia There exist 1 public, 1 museum and some industrial peat railways. Public narrow gauge railway are gauge and are around 30 km long. They join Gulbene and Aluksne. More - http://www.banitis.lv . 2 trains per day. The museum railway is located in Ventspils. The gauge is and the length is a 2 km circle. The locomotives are former "Brigadelok" steam locomotives. The peat companies mainly use 750 mm, but there also exist gauge and other 600 mm gauge railways.
Lithuania 158.8 km of narrow gauge lines remain, although only 68.4 km of them (serving five stations) are regularly used, employing 12 locomotives. They are included in the Registry of Immovable Cultural Heritage Sites of Lithuania. More about this line: http://www.siaurukas.eu/ . There also still exist many peat factories, which have private narrow gauge railways for transportation peat from field to factory.
Norway In Norway, a number of main lines were in the 19th century built with narrow gauge, , to save cost in a sparsely populated mountainous country. This included Norway's first own long-distance line, Rřrosbanen, connecting Oslo and Trondheim, 1877. Some secondary railways also had this gauge. These railways have been rebuilt to standard gauge or closed down. Some private railways had and one had . A few railways partly still are operated as museum railways, specifically Thamshavnbanen, Urskog-Hřlandsbanen and Setesdalsbanen. The tramway in Trondheim, Grĺkallbanen is also narrow gauge.
Poland There are hundreds of kilometres of , , 785 mm, and narrow gauge lines in Poland. The metre gauge lines are mostly found in the northwest part of the country in Pomerania, while 785 mm lines are found only in the Upper Silesia region. is the most commonly used narrow gauge; it is used, for example, in the Rogów Narrow Gauge Railway (Rogowska Kolej Waskotorowa). Some narrow gauge lines in Poland still operate as common carriers (for example the lines operated by SKPL, the Association of Local Railway Haulage), while others survive as tourist attractions. One of the finest of the latter is the narrow gauge railway (Zninska Kolej Powiatowa) running from Znin via Wenecja (Polish Venice) and famous Biskupin to Gasawa in the Paluki region. Railway tradtions of Paluki date back to July 1894 when the first two lines were opened.
In the past, there have also been , and lines. A recreational line 4.2 km long still operates in the Amusement-Recreation Park in Chorzów, Upper Silesia. A similar line, Kolejka Parkowa Maltanka, operates in Poznan. Some of Poland's narrow gauge railways are maintained by volunteers; one organization dedicated to preserving narrow gauge railways is the FPKW, the Polish Narrow Gauge Railways Foundation .
Portugal Portugal had hundreds of km of gauge railways, including: Linha do Porto ŕ Póvoa e Famalicăo - Closed. Some of the old trackbed is now used by the Oporto's Metropolitan railcars. Linha de Guimarăes - Closed between Guimarăes and Fafe, converted into a bike way. The rest is now broad gauge. Linha do Tâmega. Linha do Corgo. Linha do Tua. Linha do Sabor. Linhas do Vale do Vouga (closed in Sernada do Vouga - Viseu, working in Aveiro - Sernada do Vouga - Albergaria-a-Velha - Oliveira de Azeméis - Espinho). Linha do Dăo.
Four passenger services are known to still be in operation.
The Tamega Line runs between Livraçăo and Amarante in the District of Porto and runs near the River Tâmega.
The Corgo line runs from Regua, on the Douro River to Vila Real. The line previously ran to Chaves and the track is still in situ in 2008. There is a small Railway Museum at Chaves.
The Tua Line runs north from Tua to Bragança and previously ran to Mirandela. This line is the least used and may close soon but was still operating in spring 2008. The line was closed temporarily on 10 April 2008 after a landslide which cause the derailment of a light inspection vehicle near Santa Luzia station, and it's unknown when the line will reopen.
Finally a line still runs from the Porto to Lisbon main line at Espinho to Sernada do Vouga and back to the same main line at Aveiro | |
