Narrow gauge railways in Finland

Lovisa-Wesijärvi Railway (LWR) 2-8-0 steam locomotive number 6 (built in 1909) in running order on Jokioinen Museum Railway, Finland.

The vast majority of Finnish narrow gauge railways were owned and operated by private companies. There are only a few instances where narrow gauge railways were in direct connection with each other, and those interchanges did not last for long. The railways never formed a regional rail traffic network, but were only focused on maintaining connections between the national Russian gauge railway network and the off-line industries.

Some railways were closed due to competition from the roads, others were converted to 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russian gauge.

Common carriers

Other lines were notably shorter. The common gauges were 600 mm (1 ft 11 58 in) and 750 mm (2 ft 5 12 in), with a few railways built with 785 mm (2 ft 6 2932 in) and 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 38 in) gauges.

Tourist and heritage lines

Narrow gauge tourist and heritage lines of 600 mm (1 ft 11 58 in) narrow gauge and 750 mm (2 ft 5 12 in) narrow gauge still operate.[1]

Other

References

  1. of preserved narrow gauge railways in Finland A visitors guide to Nordic (Scandinavian) narrow gauge railways
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