Gournósovo Forest Railway

O&K steam locomotive with around 50 HP near Gournósovo

		Kanelli Forest δάσος Κανέλλη
		Temporary branch lines
		Abzw. After Dordopoli and Three Fountains
		Metamorfosi Drazilovo Μεταμόρφωση Δραζίλοβο
		Agiasma Αγίασμα
		Waterfall, Great Brook καταρράκτης, Μέγα Ρέμα
		Kamenik Bach γεφύρια
		Tunnel Γαλαρία
		Gournósovo cable car station Γκουρνόσοβο
		Material ropeway
		Cable car station Lefkadia Λευκάδια
		Standard gauge railway

The Gournósovo Forest Railway was a narrow-gauge railway in the Naoussa municipality in Greece that operated from 1906 to 1922.

prehistory

Albanian forest workers and wood processors, called Arvaniten in Naoussa , cultivated the forest on the Vermio Mountains from 1840, first in Seli and then in Gournósovo. They had previously resettled from the villages of Darda ( Albanian Dardhë ) and Zitsista ( Albanian Ziçisht ) at an altitude of 1,300 meters above sea level on Mount Morava (also Morova ) in the area of Korça ( Albanian also Korçë ) on the Vermio, after they had moved from the Turks had been persecuted. Elias Pazis' sawmill supplied the Turkish state with wooden sleepers for the construction of the Thessaloniki - Bitola railway line . Another product was large quantities of charcoal, which was transported by rail from various traders from Naoussa to other cities.

history

The colloquially known Decauville (ντεκοβίλ) forest railway and sawmill were built and operated by Millars Timber & Trading Company Limited ^(s) . The English company had leased the Kanelli forest for 20 years from 1904 to 1924, hiring Paschalis Ioannou as manager and Stathis Goulas as secretary. Their first task was to build a brick factory to build single-story low-rise buildings for employees (workers, lumberjacks, freight forwarders, etc.), as the forestry employed a total of around 5,000 people. At the same time, the English engineers began to build the narrow-gauge railway lines that eventually opened up the entire forest.

Route

The forest railway led from the Kanelli Forest (δάσος Κανέλλη) near the Three Five Wells (Τρία Πέντε Πηγάδια) over the Kamenik stream, through the Decauville tunnel and over two river bridges to the Gournósovo sawmill at an altitude of 1,050 meters above sea level , from where the sawn timber was brought with a material cable car to the station of the state standard-gauge railway near today's Lefkadia (Λευκάδια).

The achievable with the forest path forest areas were called Gournósovo (Γουρνόσοβο) METAMORFOSI (Μεταμόρφωση) Galaria (Γαλαρία) Pigí Pétsou (Πηγή Πέτσου) Bámpes (Μπάμπες) Gefyroúdia (Γεφυρούδια) Ntorntópoli (Ντορντόπολη) and Psalídia (ψαλίδια) Trisákouli (Τρισάκουλη), Lagatári (Λαγατάρι), Tsái – Vráchoi Korákon (Τσάι – Βράχοι Κοράκων), Kapsoúra (Καψούρα) and pigíαγγκíαογττ σοηυστήσοηυσή πυηυσή πυίυσή The most distant places on the line were Kapsoúra (Καψούρα), the Tovaritsi Forest (Τοβαρίτσι) on the border of Pella and temporarily laid flying tracks (γραμμές) to Dordopoli (Ντορντόπδαλη) and Drei Quellen (ΤράαδαιΠ).

Rail operation for long timber transport
Staika bridge
The Kanelli Family White House in Italika

The material ropeway ran from Gournósovo (Γουρνόσοβο) via Perisióri (Περισιόρι), Koúla (Κούλα), Plákes (Πλάκες), Vigla (Βίγλλα) to Golisiani (Γκοισιναυadia (Γκοισιάefικδά) at Lκοισιάefικάδιναυadia (today Γιναυadia). Some of the foundations of the pillars of the material ropeway are still preserved today ⁽²⁰¹⁵⁾ in various places, e.g. B. in Perisiori (Περισιόρι), in Vigla (Βίγλα) and below the Prodromos monastery (μονή Προδρόμου).