Light railway
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'Light railway' can also refer to:
- A light-rail public transport system (also known as tramways or streetcars)
United Kingdom
A light railway was a railway built or operated in the United Kingdom under the 1896 Light Railways Act although the term is used more generally of any lightly built railway with limited traffic, often controlled locally and running unusual and/or ancient rolling stock. A light railway is properly distinct from a tramway which operates under differing rules and may share a road.
In the United Kingdom the term 'Light railway' is generally used in a positive manner. The term is associated with an (arguably mostly imaginary) idyllic village past. Perhaps the most well known caricature of a light railway is the film The Titfield Thunderbolt, made in 1953 as many of the light railways and other small branch lines were being closed. Despite the great public affection for these railways very few were successful. H.F. Stephens was pivotal in the light railway world and tried many techniques to make light railways pay, introducing some of the earliest railcars and also experimenting with a rail lorry built out of an old model T ford. Nevertheless most light railways never made much money and by the 1930s were being driven out of business by the motor car. Although World War II provided a brief increase in the importance of these railways very few lasted beyond the early 1950s. Those that survive today are generally heritage railways.
Industrial railways
A form of light railway is an Industrial railway used to serve a mine or factory or timber mill. These may be of light and small construction, although the molten-steel carrying wagons in a steelworks can be several hundred tonnes in weight.
Panama
The Panama Canal used a heavy network of standard gauge temporary railways in its construction to move vast quantities of spoil from the excavations to the dams that were constructed.
Military railways
Light railways have been used in several wars, especially before the advent of the combustion engine and motor car. These have often connect depots some distance behind the front line with the front lines themselves. Some armies have Divisions of Engineers trained to operate trains. Sometimes they operate a branch line of there own so that they can practice track and bridge building ( and demolition ) without disturbing trains on the main line.
- Longmoor Military Railway - built by the Royal Engineers in order to train on railway operations on it. It closed in 1969.
- Central Asian Military railway
List of Light Railways
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