|
A narrow-gauge railway (or narrow-gauge railroad) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with smaller radius curves, smaller structure gauges, lighter rails, etc., they can be substantially less costly to build, equip, and operate than standard gauge or broad gauge railways, particularly in mountainous or difficult terrain. The lower costs of narrow-gauge railways mean they are often built to serve industries and communities where the traffic potential would not justify the cost of building a standard or broad gauge line. Narrow-gauge railways also have specialized use in mines and other environments where a very small structure gauge makes a very small loading gauge necessary. Narrow-gauge railways also have more general applications. Nonindustrial narrow-gauge mountain railways are or were common in the Rocky Mountains of the United States and the Pacific Cordillera of Canada, in Mexico, Switzerland, the former Yugoslavia, Greece, India, and Costa Rica. In some countries, narrow gauge is the standard, like the gauge in Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, New Zealand, South Africa, and Tasmania, and the in Malaysia and Thailand. Many narrow-gauge street tramways are used, particularly in Europe, where tramways are common. == History == The earliest recorded railway is shown in the ''De re metallica'' of 1556, which shows a mine in Bohemia with a railway of about gauge. During the 16th century, railways were mainly restricted to hand-pushed narrow gauge lines in mines throughout Europe. During the 17th century, mine railways were extended to provide transportation above ground. These lines were industrial, connecting mines with nearby transportation points, usually canals or other waterways. These railways were usually built to the same narrow gauge as the mine railways from which they developed. The world's first steam locomotive on rails, built in 1802 by Richard Trevithick for the Coalbrookdale Company, ran on a plateway. During the 1820s and 1830s, a number of industrial narrow gauge railways in the United Kingdom used steam locomotives. In 1842, the first narrow gauge steam locomotive outside the UK was built for the gauge Antwerp-Ghent Railway in Belgium. The first use of steam locomotives on a public, passenger-carrying narrow gauge railway came in 1865 when the Ffestiniog Railway introduced its passenger service, after receiving its first locomotives two years prior. Historically, many narrow gauge railways were built as part of specific industrial enterprises and were primarily industrial railways rather than general carriers. Some common uses for these industrial narrow gauge railways were mining, logging, construction, tunnelling, quarrying, and the conveying of agricultural products. Extensive narrow gauge networks were constructed in many parts of the world for these purposes. For example, mountain logging operations in the 19th century often used narrow gauge railways to transport logs from mill sites to market. Significant sugarcane railways still operate in Cuba, Fiji, Java, the Philippines, and Queensland. Narrow gauge railway equipment remains in common use for the construction of tunnels. Extensive narrow gauge railway systems served the front-line trenches of both sides in World War I. They were a short-lived military application, and after the end of the war, the surplus equipment from these created a small boom in narrow gauge railway building in Europe. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Narrow-gauge railway」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|