Szalajka Railway
| Szalajka Railway | |
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 Work locomotive of the Szalajka Railway
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| Gauge : | 760 mm ( Bosnian gauge ) |
The Szalajka Railway runs as a tourist train in Heves County in Hungary from Szilvásvárad , on the edge of the Bükk National Park, to the Schleier waterfalls at the end of the Szalajka Valley, 4 km away. During the season (April to October) run the cars of the train several times a day. The height difference to be overcome is 50 m. Since Szilvásvárad is very popular with Hungarian tourists, the railway also benefits from it.
Former forest railway
Originally served in 760 mm gauge executed narrow-gauge railway to the transportation of wood and limestone . At the end of the valley, at today's terminus, there was a cable car to a limestone quarry 150 m higher. Apart from the remains of a pillar in the forest, nothing can be seen of it. From the Schleier waterfalls, the forest railway continued at times to the rear of the Horotna Valley. A branch track from the Eger - Putnok railway line was available in Szilvásvárad for reloading to standard gauge , which was dismantled in 2006. There is now a large parking lot at the site of the former reloading tracks.
The major part of the railway starting from Szilvásvárad no longer exists today. It was used to transport firewood and construction wood from the plateau of the Bükk Mountains (800–900 m above sea level). Most of the former routes are still clearly visible; they are still indicated in current maps and can be hiked. On the plateau one can distinguish the railway going east to Bánkút (today winter sports) and south to the steep drop between Cserepes-kő and Tár-kő. As is usual with forest railways, there were also temporary stub sections that followed the felling.
Hairpin and inclined plane
The former route to the Bükk plateau had to overcome a height difference of around 400 m. It branched off from today's tourist train at the Halastó stop (approx. 400 m above sea level) in a 180 ° bend. The route climbs on the eastern slope, bends south around a mountain spur into the Tótfalu valley, after about 1 km turns right into the Kukucsó valley and crosses it after almost 0.5 km in a 180 ° bend on an earth dam. On the other side of the valley continues to rise and by a cut back to Tótfalu Valley, the route reaches a hairpin (about 500 m above sea level. M.)
Again through a cut back into the Kukucsó valley, the route now leads steeper than before (60–70 ‰) along the slope to the foot of the inclined plane (approx. 600 m above sea level), a double-track inclined elevator . The inclined plane overcomes the remaining height difference of 200 m to the edge of the high plateau in a gradient of up to 650 ‰. From the valley side of the inclined plane nothing can be seen today except the route. However, the mountain station is still well preserved. In addition to two pieces of track and a stake wagon, there is the mountain station of the inclined elevator with a cable drum and an engageable brake gear. In each track there is a switch that leads over a short track into a mound of earth. This served as a safety precaution to prevent accidental entry of a car into the inclined plane. The loaded downhill car was braked by the air resistance of a high-speed impeller. This was still there for years after the cessation of operations, but has since been dismantled, whether for the purpose of museum preservation is not known. A remainder of the pulling rope is still in the inclined plane and leads directly to the rope drum. The other end leads from the bottom to the stake car. The pulleys for this end of the rope are missing or buried in the terrain. At the cable car building there was a water crane for the steam locomotives , remains of which are still present. The water for this was brought up from the spring at the lower end of the Inclined Plane.
From the mountain station a route runs west to the former wooden slide, and the main route continues uphill to the east. After about 0.5 km, it crosses the road to the Olasz-kapu (Italian gate) parking lot and then turns towards the northern slope of Huta-bérc, towards Bánkút. Following today's road, the railway line led in the direction of Kis-virágos-hegy.
Bánkút
The route is easy to find as the hiking trail to Bánkút (yellow mark +) leads along it. At Semmi-bérc a track branched off to the right to a wood yard. The last part of the route at Bánkút can only be guessed at in the terrain. In contrast to the inclined elevator and the route to Kis-Virágos-hegy, the route to Bánkút was built relatively late; it is not yet shown on a hiking map from the 1930s.
Kis-virágos-hegy
The route on the hiking map from the 1930s shows the original horse-drawn tram , which was built with a gauge of 600 mm . The remnants of the route that are visible today differ from this, which suggests a partial new construction during the gauge change to 760 mm.
After the parking lot, the road or railway line leads through a short rock cut (Olaz kapu), which, according to a plaque, was completed in 1918 with the help of 18 Italian prisoners of war. This indicates that construction at least started in 1918. According to the information on the hiking maps, the route must turn to the southwest immediately afterwards, but a corresponding curve is not visible in the terrain. The route ran uphill only approximately parallel to today's forest road, but then stayed on the western side of the doline- rich high valley between Istállós-kő and Virágos-sár-hegy (original route on its eastern side). Where the forest road crosses the valley today (approx. 880 m above sea level), a branch branched off, which rose slightly to the southern tip of Kis-virágos-hegy. The main route (narrow forest road) descends in a southerly direction until it describes the first hairpin curve after about 1 km on the slope of Vörös-kő-bérc. After another half a kilometer crossing the valley with an arc of almost 180 °. The route now continues in a southerly direction on the western slope of the Virágos-sár-hegy along a wide hollow, around a mountain nose, until a 270 ° bend (radius 20 m) is described on a flat ridge of the Kis-virágos-hegy becomes. Here, too, an approximately 0.5 km long branch line continues following the slope. In a northerly direction back to approx. 800 m above sea level. M. in the valley floor again in a 270 ° bend the direction is changed. A short branch line leads along the foot of the Vörös-kő-bérc. The other route also ends after approx. 0.5 km on the western slope of Kis-virágos-hegy.
Due to the age of the trees on and next to the former route, it can be assumed that this forest railway was dismantled about 40 years ago after being cleared.
Summary of historical data
(from the side of the Szilvásvárad Forest Railway)
In 1908 the railway line from Szilvásvárad to Tótfalu valley was built. It had a track width of 760 mm with a maximum gradient of 50 ‰ and a radius of at least 45 m. The rails weighed 12.5 kg / m of rails. In the same year the horse-drawn tram was built on the plateau. This has a track width of 600 mm, a maximum gradient of 100 ‰, a radius of at least 35 m and the rails weighed 7 kg / m. The two tracks were connected by a double wooden slide, later by a cable car. The first 2-axle locomotive was from Hanomag.
In 1920 the 3-axle locomotive Eleonora (Maffei No. 2908) and the 2-axle locomotive Csillag (Borsig No. 5274) were added. In 1921 the route from the Tótfalu valley to the double-track inclined elevator (track width 760 mm) and the route to the Schleier waterfalls, a 500 m long cable car to the limestone quarry with lime kiln, were built.
Around 1940 there was a sawmill by the wood yard in Szilvásvárad.
Finally, in 1948, the railway on the plateau was converted to a 760 mm gauge. In addition, the transport capacity of the inclined elevator has been doubled to 120 m³ per day. Passenger traffic began in 1953.
In 1963/1965 the railway received two L60 (LOWA Ns3) diesel locomotives, GV 61103 and GV 61105. The routes on the plateau and the inclined elevator and the route to it were dismantled in 1967.
swell
- ↑ Hiking map 1:40 000 (Bükk-Fennsík, Cartographia No. 33, ISBN 963-352-133-5 and A Bükk (déli rész) No. 30, ISBN 963-352-130-0 ), former railway line as Régi vasút noted; The map from Z-Press Kiadó Kft., Bükk, ISBN 963-9493-29-5, is less productive in terms of iron cock history .
- ↑ Photos of the inclined elevator can be seen in the forest museum (near the Halastó stop), which is well worth a visit
- ↑ http://fold1.ftt.uni-miskolc.hu/~foldnn/bukk map BUKK_7B.jpg