Hyrynsalmi – Kuusamo railway line
Hyrynsalmi – Kuusamo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Route length: | 178 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gauge : | 750 mm ( narrow gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Hyrynsalmi – Kuusamo railway was a narrow-gauge railway built by the German Wehrmacht in the middle of Finland near the Soviet border.
history
After Hyrynsalmi was connected to the railway in 1939, the Wehrmacht tried to reach the city of Kuusamo , 178 km away, during World War II . An army field railway with a gauge of 750 mm was built. Operations started on September 3, 1942. Just two years later, with the advance of the Soviet Army , operations had to be closed again. In 1948 the tracks were dismantled.
In the years 1956–1961 a railway line in Russian broad gauge was built between Hyrynsalmi and Taivalkoski , which mostly shared the old line as far as Korvua. This railway line has also only been partially in operation since 2004 (up to the Pesiökylä separation station).
gallery
literature
- Lars Westerlund: Saksan vankileirit Suomessa ja raja-alueilla 1941-1944 , Helsinki: Tammi, 2008, ISBN 978-951314277-3 .
- DVD "Kuolemanrata". A film by Timo Koivisto, Nimbus-Filmi, 1999.
Web links
- Info at www.taivalkoski.fi (Finnish)