Saint-Élie light railway

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Saint-Élie light railway
Stollen mouth and washing in Saint-Elie, 1928
Stollen mouth and washing in Saint-Elie, 1928
Route length: 33.5 km
Gauge : 600 mm ( narrow gauge )
Maximum slope : 110  ‰

The Saint-Élie light railway was a 33.5 km long Decauville line with a gauge of 600 mm between Saint-Élie and Gare Tigre ( Saint-Nazaire ) in the overseas department of French Guiana in northern South America.

Route

The route led over 101 bridges with a length of more than 4 m. After the construction of the Petit-Saut Dam on the Sinnamary River, half of the route was flooded in 1993 after the tracks were dismantled and stored at the new Gare Tigre station.

history

Construction of the light railroad began in 1884 after gold had been discovered there 11 years earlier. By 1886 only 3.5 km of the route had been completed. From 1888, another company resumed construction and completed another 20 km section. This company was later bought by the Société des Gisements de Saint-Elie , which in 1898 finally put the 33.5 km long route between Saint-Elie and Gare Tigre (Saint-Nazaire) into operation. This company existed until 1919 when it went into liquidation.

Local miners used the route until the Société Nouvelle de Saint-Elie et Adieu Vat took over the management in 1923 and the railroad restarted in 1926 after the worn rails with a weight of 5 kg / m were replaced by heavier rails with 9 kg / m have been replaced. After the Second World War, the light rail carts were moved by hand: eight teams of 4 men each transported a total of 11 loads of 750–1000 kg each on the route. Since the company failed in 1956, gold prospectors mostly from Brazil have been active in the area today.

Locomotives

A small two-axle steam locomotive was imported but probably never put into service. It was recovered by helicopter in 1993 before the reservoir was filled and is still preserved today. The 10-20 hp locomotive was either built by Krauss or it was a replica by Max Orenstein , the brother of the later partner in O&K . It is a listed building and is on the premises of the Hydreco Laboratory, a company that monitors the water quality of the lake, at the foot of the dam under a small canopy.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Thomas Kautzor: Industrial Railways in French Guiana, 2014. Retrieved on August 16, 2020.
  2. ↑ Pierre Corbin, (Abel-Louis) Sainte-Luce-Blanchelin, Marcel Guieysse, Leon Jacob et al .: Les colonies françaises d'Amérique.
  3. ^ Société nouvelle de Saint-Élie et Adieu-Vat. De la Russie et de l'Indochine à la Guyane. March 5, 2014 and November 14, 2019. Accessed August 16, 2020.
  4. ^ Dennis Lamaison: Quand la Guyane voulait son chemin de fer.
  5. ↑ ANARE Calmont: Le Barrage de Petit-Saut (Guyane) et son impact sur l'environnement. In: A ménagement et Nature, N ° 143-144. Page 138.
  6. ↑ Gare Tigre & voies ferrées.
  7. ↑ Thomas Kautzor: La petite 020-T Krauss ou O&K de la Société des Gisements de Saint-Elie au Barrage de Petit-Saut (classée “Monument Historique”).
  8. ^ Märkische Lokomotiv-Fabrik, Max Orenstein

Coordinates: 4 ° 49 ′ 31.4 "  N , 53 ° 17 ′ 14.4"  W.