A forest railway, forest tram, timber line, logging railway or logging railroad is a mode of railway transport which is used for

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

tasks, primarily the transportation of felled logs to

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

s 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

wagonway 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, dramw ...

s, using horses and wooden rails, were used from the 18th century. However the invention of the

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...

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 USA, extensive forest railways were even built using standard gauge exclusively for forestry tasks. Special geared locomotives such as the Shay and

Climax locomotive A Climax locomotive is a type of geared steam locomotive built by the ''Climax Manufacturing Company'' (later renamed to the ''Climax Locomotive Works''), of Corry, Pennsylvania. These had two steam cylinders attached to a transmission loca ...

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 The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

extended up to 20 miles at the end of the nineteenth century, and used purpose-built steam locomotives."Pole Road Locomotives of the Early Days," ''

Trains In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...

'' magazine, February 1948 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 Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

where there are still some today. In

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

too there are several forest railways in active service today, some are also used for tourist traffic. The numerous forest railway operations in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

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

Germany (selection)

Austria

France

Abreschviller Abreschviller (; german: Alberschweiler) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in northeastern France. Geography Abreschviller is a small, long-drawn-out, village in the Vosges mountains, surrounded by vast forests. It is locate ...

Forest Railway, remains of a once extensive forest railway networks in the

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a singl ...

, museum railway * ''also'' the Voies Ferrées des Landes a group of short lines built primarily to serve the forestry industry in the

Landes forest The Landes forest (; La forêt des Landes in French) in the Landes de Gascogne (las Lanas de Gasconha in the Gascon language), in the historic Gascony natural region of southwestern France now known as Aquitaine, is the largest man-made woodland ...

* The

Forest Railway Welschbruch The Forest Railway Welschbruch ( French: ''Le chemin de fer forestier de la forêt de Barr'', German: ''Waldeisenbahn Welschbruch'') was a narrow gauge forest railwaywith a gauge of probably 700mm near Barr in the Bas-Rhin department of France. ...

, built and used while the German Empire ruled Alsace, was used to carry wood logs down to the valley of

Barr Barr may refer to: Places * Barr (placename element), element of place names meaning 'wooded hill', 'natural barrier' * Barr, Ayrshire, a village in Scotland * Barr Building (Washington, DC), listed on the US National Register of Historic Places ...

Poland

(all lines on the Polish eastern border from north to south) * Forest Railway from Płociczno - Bryzgiel (from 1923) * Forest Railway from Czarna Białostocka (from 1919) * Forest Railway

Hajnówka Hajnówka (; be, Гайнаўка, ''Hajnaŭka''; uk, Гайнівка, ''Hainivka''; yi, האַדזשנאָװקאַ, ''Hachnovka''; russian: Хайнувка) is a town and a powiat seat in eastern Poland (Podlaskie Voivodeship) with 21,442 i ...

, Museum Railway * Bieszczady Forest Railway

Slovakia

* Hronec – Čierny Balog Forest Railway (''Schwarzgranbahn''), museum railway * Vychylovka Forest Railway, museum railway * Považská lesná železnica

Sweden

* ''Ohsabanan'', Värnamo, Småland, active forest railway and tourist trains

Hungary

* Almamellék Forest Railway, tourist trains * Csömödér Forest Railway, active forest railway and tourist trains * Debrecen Forest Railway, tourist trains * Felsőtárkány National Forest Railway, tourist trains * Gemenc State Forest Railway, active forest railway and tourist trains * Mátravasút, (

Gyöngyös Gyöngyös (; german: Gengeß) is a town in Heves county in Hungary, east of Budapest. Situated at the foot of the Sár-hegy and Mátra mountains, it is the home of numerous food production plants, including milk production and sausage factori ...

) tourist trains * Kaszó Forest Railway, tourist trains * Kemence Forest Railway, tourist trains and narrow gauge museum * Királyrét Forest Railway, tourist trains * Lillafüred Forest Railway, tourist trains * Mesztegnyő Forest Railway, (forest railway ceased 1999) tourist trains * Nagybörzsöny Forest Railway, tourist trains * Pálháza Forest Railway, tourist trains * Szilvásvárad Forest Railway, Szilvásvárad, tourist trains

Romania

* Viseu de Sus, ''Wassertalbahn'', active forest railway used for forestry and tourism *

Covasna Covasna (, hu, Kovászna, , german: Kowasna) is a town in Covasna County, Transylvania, Romania, at an altitude of . It is known for its natural mineral waters and mofettas. The town administers one village, Chiuruș ( hu, Csomakőrös). The v ...

Comandău Comandău ( hu, Komandó, Hungarian pronunciation: ) is a commune in Covasna County Covasna County (, hu, Kovászna megye, ) is a county ( județ) of Romania, in eastern Transylvania, with the county seat at Sfântu Gheorghe. Demographics ...

Forest Railway, with cable car, museum operation under construction

Russia

* Alapayevsk narrow-gauge railway, passengers and tourist trains *

Apsheronsk narrow-gauge railway The Apsheronsk narrow-gauge railway (russian: italic=yes, Апшеронская узкоколейная железная дорога, ''Apsheronskya uzkokoleynaya zheleznaya doroga'') is a mountain narrow-gauge railway located in Krasnodar Kra ...