Long sleeper railways from Idria
| Long sleeper railways from Idria | |
|---|---|
 Long sleeper railways from Idria
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| Gauge : | 342 and 625 mm |
| Maximum slope : | 14–28 ‰ |
The Idria long sleeper railways were narrow-gauge forest railways operated around 1853–1875 on wooden rails studded with metal and originally flanged wheels in Slovenia .
history
As early as the 1820s in the province of Carniola in the mountain forests near Idria, logging entrepreneurs built wooden tracks, so-called runs .
On the high plateaus of the karst area , in which there are often whole rows of basin-like valleys, ( sinkholes ), such railways were used to transport the wood to the next slope. The routes often connected the forest areas with a point in the valley basin that was as low as possible, to which the wood could easily be brought.
The wooden tracks themselves consisted of two strong trees 342 mm apart, 5.70 m to 7.60 m long, 263 to 405 mm thick, which formed the track. The track width was therefore 342 mm.
The long sleepers or trees were hewn on two sides, namely horizontally at the top and facing the axis of the track, vertically, i.e. smoothly at right angles. The long sleepers either rested on the ground or formed the crowning of yokes , as in the case of a giant building . The trees were supported in the middle by a yoke when they were exposed along their entire length in order to protect them from excessive bending and breakage. The existing giants were used as a substructure for such wooden tracks, which was carried out for the first time in 1853 with great success.
dare
The wagons for this track had 4 cast iron wheels with a diameter of 210 mm and a rim width of 52.7 mm. Otherwise, the design of the wagons matched that of ordinary freight wagons. The Langwied, which connected the two axes, was on average 1.30 m long, as the logs to be transported on it had a length of either 2.50 m or 1.88 m. In order to remain on the long sleepers, which are usually only 210 to 316 mm wide, when driving with the car, since the wheels did not have a flange , 2 small, wooden guide wheels with iron tires, "idlers", from 79 mm in diameter and 40 mm thick at the distance between the two long sleepers were attached in such a way that they rolled a few centimeters deep on the vertical inner side of the running trees in their movement around their vertical axis.
business
These wagons were pulled by people for whom a walkway was built by boards in the middle of the tracks. The weight of an empty car was at most 50 kg (1 ctr. ). With 18 to 20 such wagons, a massive cubic fathom (6.82 m³) of beech wood could be transported in such a way that the load on a wagon was 300 kg (6 ctr.), Which the worker could easily pull on a level track. In the case of greater loads or a steep incline, 2 workers were pre-tensioned to the wagon.
In order to brake, the car was pushed to the side by the pulling worker while it was being transported downwards, so that a brake shoe attached to the guide wheels at the front frame and on the other side at the rear frame of the car pressed against the vertical surfaces of the trees. This type of railroad was the model for the Idrianer wooden railroad that he built.
Idrian wooden railway
The designer of the Idrianer Holzbahn, Fiedler, started from the experience that a person can pull 700–1100 kg (14–21 Ctr.) On a horizontal railway line, while with wooden railways hardly half of this effort can be expected from humans. But since the superstructure of the railways existing in Krain at that time could also carry 5 t (100 Ctr.) Per car, the previous superstructure was to be transformed into a good railway by covering the trees with metal rails. For this, iron rails 30 mm wide and 3 mm thick were used, which were exactly on the inner edge of the trees.
The rails were fastened with nails, the conical, flat head of which was sunk to the surface of the rail at intervals of 45-60 cm. When making arches, you also had to have short flat rails from 60 to 180 cm in length, otherwise they were 3.60 m long. The vertical surface of the long sleepers was also covered with rails in arches.
The track width of the Fiedler railway was 625 mm or a little more, so that the wheels were allowed a margin of 6-18 mm. Wooden planks ( floor shutters ) 3¼ to 5 cm thick were used for the workers to walk . The axles and wheels were made of iron, the former at the ends where they were in the legs of the wheel hubs, 25 mm thick and turned.
The remaining parts of the carriage were made of beech wood, with iron rails where they were particularly stressed. The wheelbase was 1.20 m, the supporting timbers attached to the axles were 90–105 cm long, which was the same as the width of the loading area.
The surface of the supporting timbers was reinforced with iron spikes to hold the cargo in its original position. An extension of the supporting timber would have made it possible to enlarge the loading space. In general, 1.5–1.75 t (30–35 Ctr.) Of wood could be loaded onto such a wagon. The wheels were made entirely of cast iron with a diameter of 300 mm and a 50 mm wide tread. The small diameter of the wheels should make charging easier.
The car received its own braking device, which was put into operation by lifting the drawbar.
The total weight of the wagons was 50 to 60 kilograms each, so that an unloaded wagon could be lifted off the track if necessary. A massive cubic meter of wood could be loaded onto such a wagon with ease.
With a moderate load of 750–1000 kg (15–20 Ctr.) Per wagon, it could be pulled by a man on the horizontal route without any particular effort. A gradient of up to 14–28 ‰, the former on the bends, was even permitted. It has been proven that a forest worker did more on such a track than a horse on a good road.
Fiedler calculated the price of such a wagon to be around 44 Mk. To deliver the wood from the field, which produced an annual quantity of 3000–4000 cubic meters of wood, 12 wagons were necessary.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Edmund Heusinger von Waldegg : Manual for special railway technology. 1878. Fifth volume, pp. 530-532 (see also reprint from 2020. ISBN 978-3-84604-840-5 ).
- ^ Fiedler: Austrian quarterly journal. VI. Vol., Especially p. 202 ff.