Bosnian-gauge railways

Bosnian-gauge railways are railways with track gauge of 760 mm (2 ft 5 15⁄16 in).[1][2] These were found extensively in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire as a standardised form of narrow gauge. The name is also used for lines of the same gauge outside Bosnia, for example in Austria.[3] Similar track gauges are the 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) and 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in) gauge.

Track gauge
By transport mode
By size (list)
Minimum
  Fifteen inch 381 mm (15 in)
Narrow
 
  • 600 mm
  • 610 mm
  • (1 ft ​11 5⁄8 in)
  • (2 ft)
 
  • 750 mm
  • 760 mm
  • 762 mm
  • (2 ft ​5 1⁄2 in)
  • (2 ft ​5 15⁄16 in)
  • (2 ft 6 in)
 
  • 891 mm
  • 900 mm
  • 914 mm
  • (2 ft ​11 3⁄32 in)
  • (2 ft ​11 7⁄16 in)
  • (3 ft)
  Metre 1,000 mm (3 ft ​3 3⁄8 in)
  Three foot six inch 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
  Standard 1,435 mm (4 ft ​8 1⁄2 in)
Broad
  Dresden gauge 1,450 mm (4 ft ​9 3⁄32 in)
  Leipzig gauge 1,458 mm (4 ft ​9 13⁄32 in)
  Toronto gauge 1,495 mm (4 ft ​10 7⁄8 in)
 
  • 1,520 mm
  • 1,524 mm
  • (4 ft ​11 7⁄8 in)
  • (5 ft)
 
  • 1,581 mm
  • 1,588 mm
  • 1,600 mm
  • (5 ft ​2 1⁄4 in)
  • (5 ft ​2 1⁄2 in)
  • (5 ft 3 in)
  Baltimore gauge 1,638 mm (5 ft ​4 1⁄2 in)
 
  • 1,668 mm
  • 1,676 mm
  • (5 ft ​5 21⁄32 in)
  • (5 ft 6 in)
Change of gauge
By location

History
See also: Narrow-gauge railways in Bosnia and Herzegovina

After a British proposal the 1878 Berlin Congress permitted Austria-Hungary to occupy and govern Bosnia-Herzegovina instead of Turkey, the 190 km (120 mi) long Brod–Zenica military railway was built to support manoeuvres and supply troops. It was completed in 1879, using the 760 mm (2 ft 5 15⁄16 in) temporary tracks and rolling stock used during the construction of the recently finished Temesvár–Orsova line. The Zenica–Sarajevo extension opened in 1882, with a loading gauge the same as that used on 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) gauge railways, which was thought to be sufficient for general traffic including passenger services.[4]

Narrow-gauge railway that once reached Dubrovnik, southern Croatia (photo from 1967).

The Brod–Zenica–Sarajevo Bosna Bahn provided the basis for the narrow-gauge railway network which was later established in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In barely two decades a national 760 mm network was built. By the 1890s this stretched through Mostar to the Dalmatian border at Metkovic, and to Gruž, a suburb of Dubrovnik, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. This narrow gauge main line carried much heavier traffic than many of the minor 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge main lines across the Austro-Hungarian Empire. At the time of their introduction, the Bosnia-Herzegovian National Railways' 2-4-2 express locomotives of 1894-96 were the fastest narrow gauge locomotives in Europe, with a 60 km/h (37 mph) permitted top speed.[4]

The establishment of the fast-growing network, whose length by the start of the 20th centuries exceeded 1,000 km (620 mi) making it the once largest interconnected narrow gauge network[4] in Europe, secured a high reputation for the Monarchy's engineering corps amongst international professional circles.

It was the success of the Bosnian narrow gauge net which gave impetus after the turn of the century to the large-scale building of 760 mm gauge lines across other territories of the Monarchy. The technical solutions pioneered there were used later on all the narrow-gauge railways of Austria-Hungary.[4][5]

Installations
Country/territory Railway
Argentina
Austria
Main article: Narrow-gauge railways in Austria
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Main article: Narrow-gauge railways in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Republic
DR Congo
Hungary
Main article: Narrow-gauge railways in Hungary

In operation:

  • Children's railway, Budapest
  • Balatonfenyves Light Railway
  • Szob–Nagybörzsöny Forest Railway
  • Csömödér State Forest Railway
  • Debrecen Fun-Fair Railway
  • Felsőtárkány State Forest Railway
  • Gemenc State Forest Railway
  • Hortobágy-fishpond Light Railway
  • Kaszó State Forest Railway
  • Királyrét Forest Railway
  • Lillafüred State Forest Railway
  • Mátra Railway
  • Mecsek Light Railway
  • Mesztegnyő State Forest Railway
  • Pálház State Forest Railway
  • Széchenyi Museum Railway, Nagycenk
  • Szilvásvárad Forest Railway
  • Tömörkény Fishing Railway
  • Vál Valley Light Railway
  • Zsuzsi Forest Railway (Operation suspended:[6])
  • Kecskemét Light Railway (since 2009)
  • Nyír Area Light Railway (since 2009)
  • Tiszakécske Children's Railway (since 2009)
Italy
Romania
Main article: Mocăniță
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Uruguay
  • Ferrocarril Pan de Azucar - Piriapolis (defunct)

See also

References
  1. "Railroad Gauge Width". Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  2. David Turnock (2006). The economy of East Central Europe 1815-1989: stages of transformation in a peripheral region. Routledge. p. 98.
  3. "Über das Unternehmen SLB Pinzgauer Lokalbahn". SLB Pinzgauer Lokalbahn. Archived from the original on 2012-07-03.
  4. Sándor Malatinszky. "A MÁV legnagyobb teljesítményű keskeny nyomtávolságú gőzmozdonyai" (in Hungarian). Magyar Közlekedési Közművelődésért Alapítvány (Hungarian Foundation for the Transportational Public Knowledge).
  5. "175 Years Railway in Austria". Privatbahn Magazin.
  6. hu:2009-es magyarországi vasútbezárások
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