LN-03Upper Silesian Narrow Gauge Railway
An industrial network of 785 mm gauge that grew to 233 km, carried five to six million tonnes a year at its peak, and now runs one preserved line.
Record
| Route | Górnośląskie Koleje Wąskotorowe |
|---|---|
| Gauge | 785 mm |
| Opened | 1854 (construction from 1851–52) |
| Builder | Private and state undertakings, subsequently PKP |
| Status | 21 km preserved and operating; remainder lifted |
| Record class | LN |
The gauge
The 785 mm gauge was adopted in 1846 and corresponds to 30 Prussian Zoll, one Zoll being 26.154 mm. It is an unusual figure by international standards and is essentially confined to this network and its descendants, which is why rolling stock could never be interchanged with narrow-gauge lines elsewhere in Poland.
Growth and traffic
Construction began in 1851–52 and sections opened successively from 1854. The network was built to serve mines, steelworks, factories and power stations across the Upper Silesian industrial district, and it was a bulk freight system first and last.
At its greatest extent in the mid-twentieth century it reached 233 km. Between 1950 and 1970 it moved five to six million tonnes a year — a figure worth sitting with, for a system of 785 mm gauge.
Contraction
After 1989 Polish State Railways wound the network down progressively. By 1999 some 40 km remained operable. Freight traffic ended in 2001.
Tourist operation had resumed in 1993 and is now the only traffic. The surviving line runs 21 km from Bytom Wąskotorowy to Miasteczko Śląskie Wąskotorowe under the Upper Silesian Narrow Gauge Railways Association.
Protection
The railway is entered in the municipal heritage registers of Bytom, Tarnowskie Góry and Miasteczko Śląskie. It forms part of the Industrial Monuments Route and has been on the European Route of Industrial Heritage since 2010.