Považská lesná železnica

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The Považská lesná železnica (Hungarian Vágvölgyi erdei vasút , German about "Waagwaldbahn") was a narrow-gauge forest railway in Slovakia, which also served public transport. It ran from Liptovský Hrádok through the valley of the Black Váh (Čierny Váh) to Liptovská Teplička . The extensive rail network was one of the longest narrow-gauge networks in Slovakia.

history

A wooden train from the Považská lesná železnica in 1934

Planning for the construction of the Považská lesná železnica began in 1912. The first section went into operation in 1916. Over the years, a network with a total length of almost 95 kilometers was created. In addition to the actual purpose of the railway - the removal of wood from the forests of the Low Tatras - public goods transport was also carried out for the neighboring villages. From 1933 to 1972 passenger trains also ran on the route, the timetable of which was also recorded in the timetable of the Czechoslovak State Railways (ČSD).

For economic reasons, the company was closed in 1972.

Shortly before the cessation of operations, the railway was shot in 1972 for the Czechoslovak youth film “The Train in the Sky Station” (original title “Vlak do stanice nebe”, 80 minutes, director Karel Kachyňa , screenplay Ota Hofman ). The film takes place in 1944, illuminates the role of the Slovak partisans against the German occupation and depicts the situation from the perspective of a child. The action takes place around the forest railway. The film thus forms a dense documentary tradition of the railway. One copy of the film is kept in the German Federal Archives, among other places.

Stool wagon for transporting wood in the Pribylina Museum (2010)

Today the remains of the route are a technical monument of the history of forestry in the Liptov region . After plans to rebuild it as a museum railway failed in the 1990s, the vehicles that have been preserved are now in a museum in the Liptov village of Pribylina .

The museum has the following locomotives and railcars:

Route description

Route network

The main route led from the town of Liptovský Hrádok , where a sawmill is still located today, via Kráľova Lehota , the forest workers' settlement Čierny Váh and Liptovská Teplička to the remote stop at Staníkovo along the river Čierny Váh and was 42 km long. In the first years the branch lines Benkovo , Ipoltica , Svarín , Vyšný Chmelienec and Liptovská Teplička were built. In the years that followed, the Dikula , Nižný Chmeliniec and the last in 1941 Rovienky-Zátureň were built . The total length of the route was 94.7 km.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Federal Archives, entry number B 102901-1
  2. ^ Cultural Heritage of Slovakia, Technical Monuments, p. 79
  3. ↑ http://www.helgeharling.de/Osteuropa/Slowakei/Pribylina/Pribylina.html