Bärschwil Gypsum Railway
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Bärschwil Gypsum Railway
The Bärschwil gypsum railway (german: Gipsbahn Bärschwil) was a narrow gauge railway in the Swiss canton of Solothurn. It existed from 1894 to 1952, carrying gypsum from mines in the village of Bärschwil to that village's former railway station some distance away on the Jura railway line. The mines have now been closed and filled in, but some of the line's route through the village can be identified. Between the village and the station, much of the line's right of way is now occupied by a geologically themed hiking trail, which also crosses the four span metal girder bridge that is the line's main surviving relic. History From the 19th century, Bärschwil was a source of gypsum. Initially the gypsum was extracted on the surface, but subsequently using underground mines accessed via adit An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, ventilated, a ...
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List Of Horse-drawn Railways
This is a worldwide list of horse-drawn railways, an early form of rail transport that utilised horses and other similar animals to pull rail cars. Examples Before 1800 Horses were used to pull railways in funiculars and coal mines as early as early 16th century. The earliest recorded example is the Reisszug, a. inclined railway dating to 1515. Almost all of the mines built in 16th and 17th century used horse-drawn railways as their only mode of transport. 1800-1849 1850-1879 After 1880 Shunting Horses were widely used for shunting. * Burra * Dry Creek, ICI works The Recorder in 1974 Bibliography * Discovering Britain's First Railways - A guide to Horse-drawn Tramroads and Waggonways, by Mark Jones. The History Press 2012. pp144. Map shows locations of 40 Waggonways with a bibliography of 40 books. See also * Corduroy road * Horsecar A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered ...
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Narrow Gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structure gauges, and lighter rails, they can be less costly to build, equip, and operate than standard- or broad-gauge railways (particularly in mountainous or difficult terrain). Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often used in mountainous terrain, where engineering savings can be substantial. Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often built to serve industries as well as sparsely populated communities where the traffic potential would not justify the cost of a standard- or broad-gauge line. Narrow-gauge railways have specialised use in mines and other environments where a small structure gauge necessitates a small loading gauge. In some countries, narrow gauge is the standard; Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Aust ...
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Canton (administrative Division)
A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, the most politically important cantons are the Swiss cantons. As the constituents of the Swiss Confederation, theoretically and historically, they are semi-sovereign states. The term is derived from the French word '' canton'', meaning "corner" or "district" (from which " cantonment" is also derived). In specific countries Cantons exist or previously existed in the following countries: *Cantons of Belgium * Cantonal Government of Bohol * Cantons of Bolivia *Cantons of Bosnia and Herzegovina: federal units of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina *Canada: Canadian French equivalent for the English word "township", since the translation ''municipalité'' is already used for a different level of government (see township). ** Cantons o ...
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Canton Of Solothurn
The canton of Solothurn or canton of Soleure (german: Kanton Solothurn rm, Chantun Soloturn french: Canton de Soleure; it, Canton Soletta) is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the northwest of Switzerland. The capital is Solothurn. History The foundation of the village of ''Salodurum'' took place in the time of the Roman emperor Tiberius. The territory of the canton comprises land acquired by the former town, mainly in the Middle Ages. For that reason the shape of the canton is irregular and includes two exclaves along the French border, separated from the rest of the canton by Basel-Land, which form separate districts of the canton. In 1481, the canton became a member of the military alliance of the former Swiss confederation. At the end of the Reformation, Solothurn maintained its Catholic religion. Between 1798 and 1803 the canton was part of the Helvetic Republic. In 1803 Solothurn was one of the 19 Swiss cantons that were reconstituted by Napoleon ('' Mediation' ...
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Gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywall. Alabaster, a fine-grained white or lightly tinted variety of gypsum, has been used for sculpture by many cultures including Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Ancient Rome, the Byzantine Empire, and the Nottingham alabasters of Medieval England. Gypsum also crystallizes as translucent crystals of selenite. It forms as an evaporite mineral and as a hydration product of anhydrite. The Mohs scale of mineral hardness defines gypsum as hardness value 2 based on scratch hardness comparison. Etymology and history The word ''gypsum'' is derived from the Greek word (), "plaster". Because the quarries of the Montmartre district of Paris have long furnished burnt gypsum (calcined gypsum) used for various purposes, this dehydrated gypsum became known ...
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Bärschwil
Bärschwil is a village and municipality in the district of Thierstein in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. History Bärschwil is first mentioned in 1194 as ''Bermeswile''. From the 19th century until 1957, Bärschwil was a source of gypsum. Initially, the gypsum was extracted on the surface but, subsequently, using underground mines accessed via adits. Until 1910, the mine was situated at Gupf and, when that was exhausted, a new mine was opened at Kirchacker. In 1875, the Jura railway line was opened at the northern edge of Bärschwil municipality, and a station opened. Between 1894 and 1952, the gypsum mines were linked to the station by the Bärschwil gypsum railway, a narrow gauge line which used a combination of horse haulage and gravity. Geography Bärschwil has an area, , of . Of this area, or 41.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 52.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 5.0% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.2% is either rivers or ...
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Jura Railway Line
Jura may refer to: Places *Jura, Scotland, island of the Inner Hebrides off Great Britain * Jūra, river in Lithuania Mountain ranges *Jura Mountains, on the French–Swiss–German border * Franconian Jura, south-central Germany *Swabian Jura, south-western Germany * Montes Jura, on the Moon near Mare Imbrium Regions * Jura (department), France * Canton of Jura, Switzerland * Bernese Jura, part of the Swiss canton of Bern *Polish Jura, an upland of southern Poland Villages * Jura, Ontario, Canada *Jura, Transnistria, Moldova *Al-Jura, Mandatory Palestine * Al-Jura, Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine Companies and organisations * Jura Books, anarchist bookshop in Sydney, Australia * Jura distillery, Scotch whisky distillery on the island of Jura * Jura Elektroapparate, Swiss developer and distributor of home appliances *Jura Federation, the anarchist, Bakuninist faction of the 19th century First International Ships * ''Jura'' (ship, 1854), steamship on Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerla ...
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Adit
An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, ventilated, and minerals extracted at the lowest convenient level. Adits are also used to explore for mineral veins. Construction Adits are driven into the side of a hill or mountain, and are often used when an ore body is located inside the mountain but above the adjacent valley floor or coastal plain. In cases where the mineral vein outcrops at the surface, the adit may follow the lode or vein until it is worked out, in which case the adit is rarely straight. The use of adits for the extraction of ore is generally called drift mining. Adits can only be driven into a mine where the local topography permits. There will be no opportunity to drive an adit to a mine situated on a large flat plain, for instance. Also if the ground is weak, the cost of shoring up a long adit may outweigh its possible advantage ...
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Horse-drawn Railways
Wagonways (also spelt Waggonways), also known as horse-drawn railways and horse-drawn railroad consisted of the horses, equipment and tracks used for hauling wagons, which preceded steam-powered railways. The terms plateway, tramway, dramway, were used. The advantage of wagonways was that far bigger loads could be transported with the same power. Ancient systems The earliest evidence is of the 6 to 8.5 km long '' Diolkos'' paved trackway, which transported boats across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece from around 600 BC. Wheeled vehicles pulled by men and animals ran in grooves in limestone, which provided the track element, preventing the wagons from leaving the intended route. The Diolkos was in use for over 650 years, until at least the 1st century AD. Paved trackways were later built in Roman Egypt. Wooden rails Such an operation was illustrated in Germany in 1556 by Georgius Agricola (image right) in his work De re metallica. This line used "Hund" carts w ...
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Closed Railway Lines In Switzerland
Closed may refer to: Mathematics * Closure (mathematics), a set, along with operations, for which applying those operations on members always results in a member of the set * Closed set, a set which contains all its limit points * Closed interval, an interval which includes its endpoints * Closed line segment, a line segment which includes its endpoints * Closed manifold, a compact manifold which has no boundary Other uses * Closed (poker), a betting round where no player will have the right to raise * ''Closed'' (album), a 2010 album by Bomb Factory * Closed GmbH, a German fashion brand * Closed class, in linguistics, a class of words or other entities which rarely changes See also * * Close (other) * Closed loop (other) * Closing (other) * Closure (other) * Open (other) Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ' ...
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Transport In The Canton Of Solothurn
Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land transport, land (rail transport, rail and road transport, road), ship transport, water, cable transport, cable, pipeline transport, pipeline, and space transport, space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and business operations, operations. Transport enables human trade, which is essential for the development of civilizations. Transport infrastructure consists of both fixed installations, including roads, railways, airway (aviation), airways, waterways, canals, and pipeline transport, pipelines, and terminals such as airports, train station, railway stations, bus stations, warehouses, trucking terminals, refueling depots (including fueling docks and fuel stations), and seaports. Terminals may be used both for intercha ...
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600 Mm Gauge Railways In Switzerland
6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second smallest composite number, behind 4; its proper divisors are , and . Since 6 equals the sum of its proper divisors, it is a perfect number; 6 is the smallest of the perfect numbers. It is also the smallest Granville number, or \mathcal-perfect number. As a perfect number: *6 is related to the Mersenne prime 3, since . (The next perfect number is 28.) *6 is the only even perfect number that is not the sum of successive odd cubes. *6 is the root of the 6-aliquot tree, and is itself the aliquot sum of only one other number; the square number, . Six is the only number that is both the sum and the product of three consecutive positive numbers. Unrelated to 6's being a perfect number, a Golomb ruler of length 6 is a "perfect ruler". Six is a co ...
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