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A forest railway, forest tram, timber line, logging railway or logging railroad is a mode of railway transport which is used for forestry tasks, primarily the transportation of felled logs to sawmills or railway stations.

In most cases this form of transport utilised narrow gauges, and were temporary in nature, and in rough and sometimes difficult to access terrain.

History

Before the railway was invented, logs were transported in large numbers from the forest down rivers either freely or on wooden rafts. This was not without its problems and wood was often damaged in transit, lost in floods or stranded in shallow water. Suitable rivers were often unavailable in mountainous terrain.

Simple wagonways, using horses and wooden rails, were used from the 18th century. However the invention of the steam locomotive and steel rails soon led to these being employed for forestry. However the difficult terrain within forests meant that narrow-gauge railways, which took up less space, were lighter and easier to build and enabled tight curves to be laid, were preferred. These were the so-called forest railways. In particularly large areas of forest or forests of unusually large trees, such as in the northwestern US, extensive forest railways were even built using standard gauge exclusively for forestry tasks. Special geared locomotives such as the Shay and Climax locomotive were developed for high tractive effort on rough track. Some forest railways became common carriers when cleared forest land was converted to agricultural or recreational use.

In cases where the railway itself was considered very short-term, or the region was extremely difficult to access, logs would often be laid into the ground as a pole road, rather than the cost and logistics of laying steel rails and sleepers. Pole roads could be extensive; several examples in the southeastern United States extended up to 20 miles (32 km) at the end of the nineteenth century, and used purpose-built steam locomotives.

In addition to steam traction, diesel and petrol-driven locomotives were also used later on. These largely brought animal-hauled transportation to an end on the forest railways. Also common were routes that just used gravity. Wagons loaded with wood would simply roll downhill in a controlled fashion under the pull of gravity. Foresters also travelled on these, at some risk to their lives on occasions – as brakemen. Empty wagons were hauled uphill again by horses.

From the second half of the 20th century forest railways were threatened by road transportation and by the end of the 1960s they had practically disappeared from western Europe. Roads were often laid in their place on the old trackbeds.

In a few Eastern European countries forest railways survived longer, particularly in Russia where there are still some today. In Hungary too there are several forest railways in active service today, some are also used for tourist traffic. The numerous forest railway operations in Romania were closed, with a few exceptions, by the 1990s. In Western Europe there are very few which are even preserved as museum railways.

In Asia and Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) the history and fate of logging tramways/forest railways is similar to Europe, with most lines either converted to motorised truck transport or closing down in the 1960s. Significant numbers of locomotives and other remnants of the former lines are found in museums and museum railways in Australia.

Forest railways in Europe

Austria

France

• Abreschviller Forest Railway, remains of a once extensive networks in the Vosges, museum railway
• Voies Ferrées des Landes a group of short lines built primarily to serve the forestry industry in the Landes forest
• The Forest Railway Welschbruch, built and used while the German Empire ruled Alsace, was used to carry wood logs down to the valley of Barr

Germany (selection)

Hungary

All forest railways have tourist trains

• Almamellék State Forest Railway
• Csömödér State Forest Railway, active forest railway
• Debrecen Forest Railway
• Felsőtárkány National Forest Railway
• Gemenc State Forest Railway, active forest railway
• Gyöngyös State Forest Railway
• Kaszó Forest Railway
• Kemence Forest Museum Railway
• Királyrét State Forest Railway
• Lillafüred Forest Train
• Mesztegnyő Forest Railway
• Pálháza State Forest Railway
• Szilvásvárad Forest Railway
• Szob-Nagybörzsöny forest railway

Poland

• Bieszczady Forest Railway
• Czarna Białostocka Forest Railway, from 1919
• Hajnówka Museum Railway
• Płociczno-Bryzgiel, from 1923

Romania

• Viseu de Sus, Wassertalbahn, active forest railway used for forestry and tourism
• Covasna-Comandău Forest Railway, with cable car, museum operation under construction

Russia

For passengers and tourist:

• Alapayevsk, Sverdlovsk Oblast
• Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk Oblast
• Sharya Forest Museum Railway, Kostroma Oblast

Active forest railways:

• Apsheronsk, Krasnodar Krai
• Belorucheyskaya, Vologda Oblast
• Kobrinskaya, Kirov Oblast
• Konetsgorskaya, Arkhangelsk Oblast
• Loyginskaya, Arkhangelsk & Vologda Oblasts
• Nyubskaya, Arkhangelsk Oblast
• Lundanskaya, Kirov Oblast
• Oparino, Kirov Oblast
• Pizhemskaya, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
• Udimskaya, Arkhangelsk Oblast
• Zelennikovskaya, Arkhangelsk Oblast

Slovakia

All forest railways are only museums

• Čierny Hron Railway (Schwarzgranbahn)
• Historical Logging Switchback Railway
• Považská lesná železnica (Waagwaldbahn)

Sweden

• Ohsabanan, active forest railway and tourist trains

Logging railroads in North America

A logging railroad describes railroads, pole roads, tram roads, or similar infrastructure used to transport harvested timber from a logging site to a sawmill. Logging railroads vary in gauge and length, with most forested regions of the world supporting a railroad of this type at some point.

While most railroads of this variety were temporary, it was not uncommon for permanent railroads to take their place as a complement to logging operations or as an independent operation once logging ended.

Canada

• Emery Lumber Company Railway, Greater Sudbury, Ontario
• Englewood Railway, British Columbia
• Shaw Logging Railroad, Saskatchewan
• Stone Lumber Company Railway, St. Joseph Island, Ontario
• Springfield Railway, Nova Scotia
• Weymouth and New France Railway, Nova Scotia

Mexico

• Ferrocarril Cazadero la Torre y Tepetongo
• Bosques de Chihuahua

United States

California

• Almanor Railroad
• Arcata and Mad River Railroad
• Bear Harbor and Eel River Railroad
• Boca and Loyalton Railroad
• Bucksport and Elk River Railroad
• California Western Railroad
• Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe Railroad
• Caspar, South Fork and Eastern Railroad
• Diamond and Caldor Railway
• Diamond Match Company
• Feather River Railway
• Fort Bragg and Southeastern Railroad
• Goodyear Redwood Company
• Gualala River Railroad
• Lake Valley Railroad
• Madera Sugar Pine Company
• McCloud Railway
• Mendocino Lumber Company
• Metropolitan Redwood Lumber Company
• Michigan-California Lumber Company
• North Pacific Coast Railroad
• Oregon and Eureka Railroad
• Pacific Lumber Company
• Rockport Redwood Company
• Santa Cruz Lumber Company
• Sugar Pine Lumber Company
• Usal Redwood Company
• West Side Lumber Company railway
• Yosemite Lumber Company

Nevada

• Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company

New England

New Mexico

• Alamogordo and Sacramento Mountain Railway

Oregon

• Oregon, California and Eastern Railway
• Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railway
• Sumpter Valley Railroad

South Carolina

• Argent Lumber Company

West Virginia

• Cass Scenic Railroad State Park

Washington

• Chehalis Western Railroad
• Mosquito and Coal Creek Railroad
• Siler Logging Railroad
• White River Lumber Company Railway

Forest railways in Asia

Indonesia

• Cepu Forest Railway

Taiwan

• Alishan Forest Railway

Japan

• Anbō (Yakushima) Forest Railway
• Kiso Forest Railway, demolished but later restored Akasawa Forest Railway
• Yanase Forest Railway [ja] (restored)
• Oigawa Railway Ikawa Line, regauged

Forest railways in Oceania

Australia

• Powelltown Tramway, Victoria
• Tyers Valley Tramway, Victoria
• Timber railway lines of Western Australia

New Zealand

• Ellis and Burnand Tramway, Ongarue
• Brownlee Tramway, in operation from c.1881 through to 1915

Other railways for the transport of goods

• Field railways (see: Feldbahn) for the transportation of rural produce; also originally for military use as well
• Harbour or port railways for loading and unloading goods within a port
• Industrial railways for transporting goods from factories
• Hallig railways for transporting coastal defence materiel.
• Bush tramways in New Zealand, see West coast trams in New Zealand
• Light railway
• Military railways (see also: Heeresfeldbahn) for transporting military supplies and troops
• Mining railways for ore transportation
• Tramway (industrial)
• Wagonway
• Rail transport

Notes

1. "Pole Road Locomotives of the Early Days," Trains magazine, February 1948
2. "Sudbury Area Mining Railways". Old Time Trains. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
3. "Remember this? Did you know there was a railway on St. Joseph Island?". SooToday.com. 15 January 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
4. "Category:Springfield Railway - HSWwiki". Retrieved 14 April 2021.
5. "Remains of Nova Scotia's New France". Retrieved 14 April 2021.
6. ^ Rice, Douglas M. Log and Lumber Railroads of New England (3rd edition) The 470 Railroad Club (1982) p.2
7. "Eagle Lake & West Branch Railroad". Richard N. Symonds, Jr. Retrieved 2012-12-20.
8. Pike, Robert E. Tall Trees, Tough Men W.W.Norton & Company (1999) ISBN 0393319172 p.164

Sources

• Manfred Hohn, Waldbahnen in Österreich, Verlag Slezak 1989, ISBN 3-85416-148-4
• L.Reiner/H.Beiler/R.Sliwinski, Die Spiegelauer Forest Railway, Ohetaler Verlag Riedlhütte 2005, ISBN 3-937067-14-0
• Friedemann Tischer, Die Muskauer Waldeisenbahn, Verlag Kenning, Nordhorn 2003, ISBN 3-933613-63-9

External links

• Overview of forest railways in Slovakia
• Photos from the Spiegelau Forest Railway today Archived 2013-08-10 at the Wayback Machine

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