Everything about Narrow Gauge Railway totally explained
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're often built to serve industries and communities where the traffic potential wouldn't 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're 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 can't 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 doesn't 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're needed. Motive power can also be interchanged, which sometimes results in Mexican locomotives pulling Canadian freight cars and vice versa.
Narrow gauge railways couldn't 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 didn't 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 couldn't 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
(External Link
), 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 Obrataň-Jindřichův Hradec-Nová Bystřice and Třemešná ve Slezsku-Osoblaha, that are still in operation.
Estonia
Four museums lines and some industrial peat railways remain in Estonia. The
Lavassaare railway museum 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 didn't 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 (
Linz/Rhine) 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, so that occasional special excursion trains use them.
Generally, the narrow gauges in Diakofto-Kalavryta line and 600 mm in Volos-Milies (the current operational line is Lechonia-Milies, since the part Volos-Lechonia was abandoned) are seasonal railroads for excursional purposes. But the 1,000 mm network of Peloponnese is a busy passenger line, although there are no longer freight trains. A major project has started to construct new 1,435 mm lines in the busiest parts of Peloponnese and rebuild the century old 1,000 mm tracks in the remaining. The brach lines Asprohoma-Messini and Pyrgos-Katakolo were recently reopenned for passenger services (September and April 2007 respectively) and Argos-Nafplio is expected to follow, when services are reinstated in the Korinthos-Tripolis line in late 2008.
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 1950's, operated by
ISAP. The line to Lavrion closed in 1957 due to political pressures from the road transpor lobby. Sections of the Lavrion line still survive and there are plans to reopen the southern part (Koropi-Lavrion) as an electrified stadard gauge suburban line.
Development of open lignite mines for electricity production led to the construction of industrial railway networks in Ptolemais, Western Macedonia (900 mm idustrial gauge, electrified) and Aliveri, Evoia Island (metric gauge). These networks are no longer active, as the lignite mines they served are exhausted.
Further information about narrow gauge railways in Greece are available in the following book references:
- 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 Children's Railway.
See also: Narrow gauge railways in today's Hungary
Zsuzsi Scenic Railway Debrecen
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 (L&LSR) and the County Donegal Railways (CDRJC). Well known was the West Clare Railway – in County Clare, which saw diesel locomotion before closure. The Cavan & Leitrim Railway (C&LR) 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 Ferrovie della Sardegna (Railways of Sardinia). The others only operate a scenic tourist service known as Trenino verde (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 Trentino only narrow gauge lines (1000 mm) from Trento to Malè and Marilleva are still operating.
In Alto Adige-Sudtirol 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 Man
Both 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's 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, Rørosbanen, 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-Hølandsbanen and Setesdalsbanen. The tramway in Trondheim, Gråkallbanen 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's used, for example, in the Rogów Narrow Gauge Railway (Rogowska Kolej Wąskotorowa). Some narrow gauge lines in Poland still operate as common carriers (for example the lines operated by SKPL, the Association of Local Railway Haulage)(External Link), while others survive as tourist attractions. One of the finest of the latter is the narrow gauge railway (Żnińska Kolej Powiatowa) running from Żnin via Wenecja (Polish Venice) and famous Biskupin to Gąsawa in the Pałuki region. Railway tradtions of Pałuki 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 Poznań. 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 (External Link).
Portugal
Portugal had hundreds of km of gauge railways, including: Linha do Porto à Póvoa e Famalicão - Closed. Some of the old trackbed is now used by the Oporto's Metropolitan railcars. Linha de Guimarães - Closed between Guimarães 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. Linha do Dão.
Four passenger services are known to still be in operation.
The Tamega Line runs between Livração and Amarante in the District of Porto and runs near the River Tâmega.
The Corgo line runs from Regua, on the Duoro 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 Braganca and previously ran to Mirandela. This line is the least used and may close soon but was still operating in spring 2008.
Finally a line still runs from the Porto to Lisbon main line at Espinho to Sernada de Vouga and back to the same main line at Aviero. This line has a museum at Machinata de Vouga whilst the main workshops are at Sernada de Vouga. This line may also shut at any time.
Romania
Romanian narrow-gauge tracks usually use a gauge, though there were also some gauge locomotives manufactured at Reşita. Several old narrow-gauge railways in Romania are being renovated for tourist purposes: the one in the Vasar Valley (Mureş County) is now well known; the line from Abrud to Campeni is operating; and other renovation projects have made tentative steps and may commence regular operations in the near future. More information can be found under "mocăniţă", the term by which such railways are often called in Romanian.
Russia
In Russia, narrow gauge is most often or . gauge is found only in the southern part of Sakhalin, where railroads were built by the Japanese. A complete list of Russian and other ex-Soviet Narrow Gauge railways.
Slovakia
Bratislava municipal transport system uses gauge for trams, while Košice transport system uses standard gauge . Railways, however use standard gauge making Bratislava tram and railways networks incompatible with each other. There is a discussion regarding transforming Bratislava's tram gauge to standard gauge to allow trams to use the railways tracks to increase transportation capabilities of Bratislava's public transportation system. The most notable tourist lines in operation are the gauge Čiernohronská železnica and Oravsko-kysucká lesná železnica - Vychylovka.
Another notable narrow gauge tracks include: the Štrbské Pleso - Štrba rack railway and the Tatra Electric Railway (both gauge) in the Tatra mountains and the gauge railway from Trenčianska Teplá to Trenčianske Teplice.
Serbia
The narrow gauge railway line in Mokra Gora on the northern slopes of mountain Zlatibor in Serbia climbs a 300 metre ascent using an unusual loop in the form of the figure 8 – the popular "Šargan Eight".
Spain
In Spain there's an extensive system of gauge railways, in the north of the country, operated by FEVE (Ferrocarriles Españoles de Vía Estrecha, Spanish narrow gauge railways) and EuskoTren (Eusko Trenbideak, Basque Railways). At the centre of this system is a metre gauge line which runs for 650 km (400 miles) along the entire length of Spain's north coast. FEVE and EuskoTren form the longest narrow gauge network in Europe.
Also near Madrid, on the mountain range of Guadarrama runs a mountain train through a short but extremely sinuous track, operated by Renfe. Separate metre gauge railways are operated by the FGC (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Catalan regional government railways) from Barcelona to Manresa and Igualada, the FGV (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana, Valencian regional government railways) around the city of Valencia, and the SFM (Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca) on the island of Majorca. Also on the island of Majorca, the FS (Ferrocarril de Sóller) operates a gauge electrified railway and connecting tramway.
Also the Euskotran in Bilbao, which is not a "light rail", is unusual in new tramway and light rail systems opened in the last twenty-five years in having adopted metre gauge. EuskoTran is part of EuskoTren, the Basque regional government rail company. This company also owns several bus lines.
Metro Bilbao started in 1995 on EuskoTren track and has a metre gauge.
Sweden
Sweden once had some fairly extensive narrow gauge networks, but most narrow gauge railways are now closed. Some were converted to standard gauge (the latest one the line between Berga and Kalmar in the 1970s) and some remains as heritage railways. The most common narrow gauge, (3 Swedish feet), existed only in Sweden. A smaller gauge network existed, and gauge was used mostly by smaller, industrial railroads.
The only commercial narrow gauge railway left is the Roslagsbanan suburban railway in north-eastern Stockholm (891 mm gauge). A branch line, the Långängsbanan, was built and run for some years as an isolated standard gauge tramway in anticipation of a planned conversion of the main line to raise its capacity, but those plans came to naught and the branch was rebuilt to narrow gauge; it's now closed.
The longest other remaining narrow gauge railway is the 891 mm line between Åseda, Hultsfred and Västervik. 70 km between Hultsfred and Västervik is served by tourist trains in the summer, including 4 km of dual gauge track.
Sweden also had the unique 1093 mm gauge Köping-Uttersberg-Riddarhyttan Railway. Still other but lesser used gauges in the country were 802 mm, 1188 mm and 1217 mm.
Switzerland
Switzerland boasts an extensive network of metre gauge railways, many of which interchange traffic (most prominent is the Rhaetian Railway). They are concentrated in the more heavily mountainous areas. The Jungfraubahn terminates at the highest station in Europe. Dual gauge (combined metre- and standard gauge trackway) also exists in many areas. Also, nearly all street tramways in Switzerland were and still are also metre gauge.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom once had a large number of narrow gauge railways which were mostly isolated from each other. The first locomotive-hauled railway in the world was the narrow gauge Penydarren Tramway in south Wales. Most of the lines were originally built to haul minerals or agricultural products over short distances, though many also carried passengers. The longest passenger line was the combined Welsh Highland and Ffestiniog railways at 36 miles/57.9 km.
Only a few of these lines survive as commercial common carriers. The great majority of the remaining narrow gauge lines operate purely as tourist attractions, and a number of new narrow gauge tourist lines have been built in recent years. The sole passenger-carrying exception is the Glasgow Subway, an underground metro line that operates on a gauge. The Talyllyn Railway holds the distinction of being the first railway in the world of any gauge to be run entirely by volunteers. In addition a few private industrial narrow gauge railways remain, mainly serving the coal and peat extraction industries.
Amongst the most well-known narrow gauge lines in Britain are the Ffestiniog - now the oldest independent railway company in the world - the Vale of Rheidol, and the Welshpool & Llanfair in Wales, and the Lynton & Barnstaple in England. Unique amongst British railways is the rack-and-pinion Snowdon Mountain Railway which climbs to just below the summit of Wales' highest peak.
North America
Canada
Although many railways of central and eastern Canada were initially built to a broad gauge, there were several railways, especially on Canada's Atlantic coast, which were built as individual narrow gauge lines.
The first public passenger carrying narrow gauge railways in North America were in Ontario, the Toronto Grey and Bruce Railway and the Toronto and Nipissing Railway, opening in the summer of 1871. The gauge of was chosen on the recommendation of Carl Abraham Pihl, Chief Engineer of the Norwegian State Railways, who adopted this gauge in Norway in the early 1860’s. The objective of the Toronto Grey and Bruce Railway and the Toronto and Nipissing Railway was to open up the bush country north of Toronto to settlement and commerce. The chief Engineer of both railways was Edmund Wragge, a former pupil and associate of Sir Charles Fox. The Ontario lines were over 300 miles (480 km) in length, and both were built with the objective of connecting with a future Pacific railway. They attempted several innovations: the use of Clark’s six wheel radial axles for longer stock – a complete failure and never used; the use of four wheel boxcars for economy and flexibility – not entirely successful; the use of large Fairlie articulated 0-6-6-0 freight locomotives – found useful initially, but heavy on maintenance and not pursued further; and the early use of powerful Avonside Engine Company 4-6-0 and Baldwin Locomotive Works 2-8-0 locomotives for freight haulage – successful engines which remained in service with the Canadian Pacific Railway after gauge standardization. Initially very successful in stimulating trade, the two railways had difficulty carrying all the traffic offered in the early 1870’s. Then, after buying large numbers of new freight locomotives and cars, the traffic fell off during the depression of the mid 1870’s and was insufficient to support the capital invested. Like all smaller railways in central Canada in the early 1880’s they then became vulnerable in the battle for feeder routes and traffic between the Grand Trunk Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Toronto and Nipissing Railway was amalgamated into the Midland Railway of Canada in 1881 and made standard gauge as part of the Midland's plan to obtain direct access to Toronto; later the whole enterprise was absorbed by the Grand Trunk Railway. The Toronto Grey and Bruce Railway was first acquired by the Grand Trunk Railway which converted it to standard gauge in 1881, but then ceded control to the Canadian Pacific Railway. Much of the track has been abandoned. Twenty miles of the T&NR from Toronto to Stouffville carries GO Transit commuter trains and a further twelve miles from Stouffville to Uxbridge is operated as a tourist line by the York Durham Heritage Railway. Twenty-six miles of the TG&BR from Toronto to Bolton carries CPR freight trains, and about three miles from Melville Junction to Orangeville is operated by the Orangeville-Brampton Railway.
A narrow gauge railway serving coal mines in the Lethbridge area of Alberta was converted to standard gauge after its purchase by the Canadian Pacific; the same fate befell a number of narrow gauge mine railways built in southern British Columbia. The Prince Edward Island Railway was built 1871 but was slow to be converted to standard gauge, the conversion occurring in stages under the auspices of Canadian Government Railways after Prince Edward Island joined Canada in 1873. The last narrow gauge sections were not removed until 1920.
Construction on the Newfoundland Railway took place between 1881 and 1898. It became part of the Canadian National Railways (CNR) when Newfoundland became part of Canada in 1949. In 1987 Canada deregulated its railway industry and allowed railways to abandon money-losing lines. As a result, the railways lines on P.E.I. were abandoned by the CNR in 1989. The CNR lines in Newfoundland were abandoned in 1988 as the result of a political deal between the province and the federal government, which saw the province receive money for the upgrading the Trans Canada Highway in return for agreeing with the federal government that the CNR be allowed to abandon the lines. (The continuance of railway service in Newfoundland was part of the deal agreed when Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949.) Newfoundland also had two separate, privately owned narrow-gauge railways, one serving mines near Buchans, the other serving a paper mill in Grand Falls. Both are now closed
Various mining and industrial operations in eastern, central and western Canada have also operated narrow gauge railways. The only narrow gauge system still in operation in the country is the gauge White Pass and Yukon Route that reopened in 1988 to haul tourists from cruise ships docking at Skagway, Alaska through White Pass on the International Boundary to Bennett, British Columbia.
Mexico
Various narrow gauge lines operated around Mexico City. A famous one operated in Morelos State. There were also
dozens of private narrow gauge lines built to service the mining district.
The Yucatán Peninsula region of Mexico has a network of narrow gauge lines, established before the region was linked by rail to the rest of Mexico in the 1950s. Only the main line connecting Mérida to central Mexico has been widened to standard gauge.
United States
Many narrow gauge railways were built in the United States. The most extensive and well known systems were the gauge lines through the Rocky Mountain states of Colorado and New Mexico. For a while the majority of the railway mileage in these states was narrow gauge.
In Maine, a network of gauge lines served the rural economy between the 1870s and 1940s.
Across the US, industrial narrow gauge railways were used, perhaps the best known being the gauge logging lines of the western states of Oregon and California.
Today a few lines survive as heritage railways and tourist attractions. USG Corporation operates an industrial gauge line at Plaster City, California and narrow gauge railways are still used for some tunneling and mining work.
Central America
Costa Rica
See also Railways in Costa Rica
Costa Rican railways are gauge and mostly gauge.
El Salvador
El Salvador ran gauge steam trains into the 1970s. How much of this survived a civil war, earthquake
and hurricane is unknown.
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