Luodong Forest Railway
| Luodong Forest Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Luodong Forest Railway
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 36.4 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 762 mm ( narrow gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Luodong Forest Railway ( Chinese 羅東森林鐵路 / 罗东森林铁路 , Pinyin Luodong Senlin Tielu , English Luodong Mountain Forest Railway / coll .: Bong Bong Train ) was a 36.4 km long narrow gauge - forest railway with a track width of 762 mm (2 feet 6 inches ) at Luodong in Yilan County , Taiwan . The railway line was in operation from 1924 to 1979. Part of the route is to be put back into operation as a museum railway on newly laid tracks .
route
The route was an extension of the Taipingshan Forest Railway . There were ten stations along the 36.4 km long route, which led through seven railway tunnels and over 22 bridges. The one-way trip took about 2 hours and 50 minutes.
history
The Luodong Forest Railway was opened for freight traffic on January 27, 1924 . From May 1926 there was scheduled passenger traffic with 10 train stations.
From 1970 an additional forest railway station on the north side of the Luodong station was approached. Chinese railcars were introduced in 1971 to reduce operating costs and further improve passenger comfort . However, the profit of the forestry operations decreased after 1976, and the passenger traffic became less important because of the increasing road traffic.
The many bridges in this section made it very susceptible to damage from floods . The line was closed on August 1, 1979 after 56 years of operation.
Development of forest use
When the forest railway was in operation, large quantities of wood were transported. In the 21 years of Japanese rule (1924 to 1945) this was 998,269 cubic meters of wood (an average of 32,202 cubic meters per year). In the following 37 years of the Republic of China (1945 to 1982) there were 1,478,352 cubic meters, corresponding to an average of 39,956 cubic meters per year. The total logging in 68 years was 2,476,621 cubic meters. Because of the large-scale deforestation, reforestation began as early as the Japanese era. Of the 5,037 hectares of cleared forest, only 2,537 hectares had been reforested by 1945. Only in the years after 1945 did reforestation (7,986 ha) exceed the felling (5,470 ha).
The different tree species change according to the altitude. Mainly conifers such as cypresses ( Chamaecyparis formosensis - "red cypress", Hinoki false cypresses - Chamaecyparis taiwanensis , Taiwania ), as well as firs ( Taiwan hemlocks and spikes ) were used. Deciduous trees such as magnolias ( Michelia compressa ) and trees of the genus Phoebe had less economic importance. Bamboo was also obtained.
From the 1970s, public environmental awareness began to grow in Taiwan. In 1977 the Taipingshan Forest Recreation Area was established. The area currently covers (as of 2017) 12,631 hectares. The establishment of a nature park or nature reserve, the “Magao” or “Makauy cypress national park” (馬 告 檜 木 國家 公園, after a term from the Atayal language for a cypress tree species) has been the subject of intense discussion recently. This is to protect the world's largest contiguous cypress forests, which cover around 20,000 hectares. In 2002, the Taiwanese Ministry of the Interior announced the establishment of a national park with a total area of approximately 53,602 hectares. However, the project encountered various resistance, so that it has not yet been implemented.
Preserved buildings
After the Luodong Forest Railway was shut down, the rails were gradually scrapped, and the bridges and tunnels fell apart over time. But there are still some station buildings and similar facilities as well as tunnels, dams and bridge piers, several of which have been placed under monument protection.
In particular, Tunnel No. 8, completed in 1921, is well preserved and was listed as a listed historical building in July 2012. It is located next to Lanyang Dam, about 350 meters southwest of Zhinao settlement. It's only about 40 meters long. The south portal was largely walled up so that only a small gap remains above the wall. There are cement vaults at the entrance to the tunnel and open slate rock in other places. The inner wall of the tunnel was originally reinforced with wooden supports, but the wood has now disappeared.
Tiansongpi Railway Station
Turntable at Tiansongpi station
Chu-lin Railway Station
Luodong Forest Culture Park
Planned reopening
At Tiansongpi station ( 天 送 埤 , Tiānsòngpí , Tien-sung-pi ) new rails were laid on both sides of the road. The museum railway operations to the Guoxi Lake along be added to the old tunnel on a 3.9 km section from the station Tiansongpi on the Lan-Yangxi Dam.
New rail vehicles were built in the historical style. The wagons and an electric locomotive that looks like a steam locomotive have now been painted and the trial operation is to begin from December 2017 to February 2018 on a 320 m long route at Tiansongpi station, which will travel through at a speed of 2.4 km / h in 8 minutes shall be.
Web links
- 從 八仙山 到 太平山 羅東林 鐵 的 蒸汽機車 傳奇 (From Baxian Mountain to Taiping Mountain. Legend of the Luodong Steam Railway). 15th July 2014.
- 林 務 局 羅東林 區 管理 處 (Luodong Forestry Department): 走訪 羅東森 林 鐵路 的 軌跡 探訪 千年 檜 木 的 的 旅程. (Visit the Luodong Forest Railway). August 10, 2016.
- Video. (Chinese)
- Video of the route of the tourist train
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b 行政院 農委會 林 務 局 © 版權所有 (Executive Yuan COA Forest Service): 太平山 森林 鐵路 (Taipingshan Forest Railway). ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
- ↑ 羅東林鐵八號隧道 ( 中文 )行政院文化部文化資產局. July 23, 2012. Archived from the original on November 26, 2017. Retrieved on April 25, 2014.
- ↑ a b c 太平山 林業 開發 史 ("Development of forestry on Mount Taiping"). (pdf) Retrieved January 16, 2018 (Chinese).
- ^ Taipingshan National Forest Recreation Area. Retrieved January 16, 2018 .
- ↑ Tony Huang: Tony 的 自然 人文 旅 記 (994): 宜蘭 大同． 樂 水 部落． 桂竹林 桂竹林 步道． 濁水 神社 遺跡． 羅東林 鐵 八號 隧道. (Tunnel No. 8 on the Luodong Railway). Retrieved November 26, 2017. (Chinese)
- ↑ 太平山 林 鐵 五分 仔 車 月底 試 營運. October 10, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
- ↑ 昔日 馳騁 宜蘭 田野 「復 刻 版」 林 鐵 小 火車 下月 鳴笛 試車. November 30, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
Coordinates: 24 ° 39 ′ 45.06 " N , 121 ° 37 ′ 11.89" E