Narrow-gauge railways in 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.

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

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

Common carriers
  • The Lovisa–Wesijärvi railway (1900–1960) that operated an 80 km (50 mi) line between Lahti and Loviisa.
  • The Hyvinkää–Karkkila railway that operated a 46 km (29 mi) line
  • The Jokioinen Railway that operated a 23 km (14.3 mi) line until 1974, being the last common-carrier narrow-gauge railway in Finland.

Other lines were notably shorter. The common gauges were 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in) and 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in), with a few railways built with 785 mm (2 ft 6 29⁄32 in) and 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) gauges.

Tourist and heritage lines

Narrow-gauge tourist and heritage lines of 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in) gauge and 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in) narrow gauge still operate.[1]

  • Jokioinen Museum Railway, 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in), 14 km, Jokioinen–Minkio–Humpilla.
  • Nykarleby Jernväg, 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in), 2 km.
  • Tankavaara Kultakylä, 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in), opened in 1997.
  • Outokummun Kaivosrautatie, 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in), 1.15 km, former copper mine.

Other
  • Rokua railway, 900 mm (2 ft 11 7⁄16 in), 3.3 km (2.1 mi), line connecting a hotel with a fitness center

References
  1. of preserved narrow gauge railways in Finland Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine A visitors guide to Nordic (Scandinavian) narrow gauge railways
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