Bosnian gauge

Track gauge
By transport mode
Tram · Rapid transit
Miniature · Scale model
By size (list)
Minimum
  Fifteen inch 381 mm (15 in)
Narrow
  600 mm,
Two foot		 597 mm
600 mm
603 mm
610 mm		 (1 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
(1 ft 11 5⁄8 in)
(1 ft 11 3⁄4 in)
(2 ft)
  750 mm,
Bosnian,
Two foot six inch,
800 mm		 750 mm
760 mm
762 mm
800 mm		 (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in)
(2 ft 5 15⁄16 in)
(2 ft 6 in)
(2 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
  Swedish three foot,
900 mm,
Three foot		 891 mm
900 mm
914 mm		 (2 ft11 3⁄32 in)
(2 ft 11 7⁄16)
(3 ft)
  Metre 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)
  Three foot six inch,
Cape, CAP, Kyōki		 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
  Four foot six inch 1,372 mm (4 ft 6 in)
  Standard 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Broad
  Russian,
Five foot		 1,520 mm
1,524 mm		 (4 ft 11 27⁄32 in)
(5 ft)
  Irish 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
  Iberian 1,668 mm (5 ft 5 21⁄32 in)
  Indian 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
  Six foot 1,829 mm (6 ft)
  Brunel 2,140 mm (7 ft 1⁄4 in)
Change of gauge
Break-of-gauge · Dual gauge ·
Conversion (list) · Bogie exchange · Variable gauge
By location
North America · South America · Europe

Bosnian gauge refers to railways with a track gauge of 760 mm (2 ft 5 15⁄16 in).[1][2] It was used extensively in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire as a standardised form of narrow gauge. The name is also used for lines of the same gauge outside Bosnia, for example in Austria.[3] This track gauge is very similar to 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge and 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in) gauge.

History

After a British proposal the 1878 Berlin Congress permitted Austria-Hungary to occupy and govern Bosnia-Herzegovina instead of Turkey, the 190 km long Brod - Zenica military railway was built to support maneuvers and supply troops. It was completed in 1879, using the 760 mm (2 ft 5 15⁄16 in) temporary tracks and rolling stock used during the construction of the recently finished Temesvár-Orsova line. The Zenica - Sarajevo extension opened in 1882, with a loading gauge the same as that used on 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) gauge railways, which was thought to be sufficient for general traffic including passenger services.[4]

Narrow gauge railway that once reached Dubrovnik, southern Croatia (photo from 1967).

The Brod - Zenica - Sarajevo Bosna Bahn provided the basis for the narrow gauge railway network which was later established in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In barely two decades a national 760 mm network was built. By the 1890s this stretched through Mostar to the Dalmatian border at Metkovic, and to Gruž, a suburb of Dubrovnik, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. This narrow gauge main line carried much heavier traffic than many of the minor standard gauge main lines across the Austro-Hungarian Empire. At the time of their introduction, the Bosnia-Herzegovian National Railways' 2-4-2 express locomotives of 1894-96 were the fastest narrow gauge locomotives in Europe, with a 60 km/h permitted top speed.[4]

The establishment of the fast-growing network, whose length by the start of the 20th centuries exceeded 1000 km making it the once largest interconnected narrow gauge network[4] in Europe, secured a high reputation for the Monarchy's engineering corps amongst international professional circles.

It was the success of the Bosnian narrow gauge net which gave impetus after the turn of the century to the large-scale building of 760 mm gauge lines across all other territories of the Monarchy. The technical solutions pioneered there were used later on all the narrow gauge railways of Austria-Hungary.[4][5]

Installations

Country/territory Railway
Argentina
Austria
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Republic
DR Congo
Hungary

In operation:

  • Children's railway, Budapest
  • Balatonfenyves Light Railway
  • Börzsöny Forest Railway (finished in 2015, will operate from May 2016)
  • Csömödér State Forest Railway
  • Debrecen Fun-Fair Railway
  • Felsőtárkány State Forest Railway
  • Gemenc State Forest Railway
  • Hortobágy-fishpond Light Railway
  • Kaszó State Forest Railway
  • Királyrét Forest Railway
  • Lillafüred State Forest Railway
  • Mátra Railway
  • Mecsek Light Railway
  • Mesztegnyő State Forest Railway
  • Pálház State Forest Railway
  • Széchenyi Museum Railway, Nagycenk
  • Szilvásvárad Forest Railway
  • Tömörkény Fishing Railway
  • Vál Valley Light Railway
  • Zsuzsi Forest Railway

Operation suspended:[6]

  • Kecskemét Light Railway (since 2009)
  • Nyír Area Light Railway (since 2009)
  • Tiszakécske Children's Railway (since 2009)
Italy
Romania
Main article: Mocăniță
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Railroad Gauge Width". Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  2. ↑ David Turnock (2006). The economy of East Central Europe 1815-1989: stages of transformation in a peripheral region. Routledge. p. 98.
  3. ↑ "Über das Unternehmen SLB Pinzgauer Lokalbahn". SLB Pinzgauer Lokalbahn.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Sándor Malatinszky. "A MÁV legnagyobb teljesítményű keskeny nyomtávolságú gőzmozdonyai" (in Hungarian). Magyar Közlekedési Közművelődésért Alapítvány (Hungarian Foundation for the Transportational Public Knowledge).
  5. ↑ "175 Years Railway in Austria". Privatbahn Magazin.
  6. ↑ hu:2009-es magyarországi vasútbezárások

External links

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