344 WOOD TRANSPORT BY LAND. 



Horses are used on nearly all branch-lines which are con- 

 structed in level land, even when of quite a temporary nature. 

 The horses do not pass between the rails but alongside of them ; 

 they are accompanied by drivers and other men, especially when 

 several trucks are united so as to form little trains (Fig. 214). 

 Brakes are always required. 



At present on the main lines, as in Elsass (Schirmeck, 

 Alberschweiler), also at Schneegatten in Upper Austria, loco- 

 motives are used almost everywhere, unless the lines are 

 very short. The locomotives are small ; in mountainous 

 forests specially constructed, light, mountain-locomotives with 

 3 axles are used, which can travel on curves even with a 

 radius of 25 meters (80 feet). In this case the brakes must 

 be very effective. If the main line is of the ordinary 

 railway-gauge, the usual kinds of trucks are used in trains 

 of different lengths, as in the forest of Ebersberg, where 190 

 truck-loads leave the forest daily, the total annual yield of the 

 forest in timber being 45,500 truck-loads. 



The loading of the trucks is effected by rolling or sliding 

 over inclined poles as shown in Fig. 215 ; also special machines 

 for loading are used, and wherever the timber is transferred 

 from trucks of one gauge to those of another, cranes are 

 indispensable. 



Whether the construction and working of a forest-trarn- 

 way is best undertaken by the forest management, or by a 

 contractor, is a question which cannot be answered in a 

 general way ; the nature of the locality, volume of wood to 

 be transported, length of the lines, greater or less delay 

 experienced in clearing the felling-areas and several other 

 factors, intervene. Circumstances differ materially in the 

 case of tramways which are at present being worked. In 

 general, except in the case of railways of the ordinary gauge, 

 experience has shown that it is more economical to con- 

 struct and work the lines directly, and not by contract; 

 this is quite independent of the advantage to the forest- 

 owner in having, in the former case, more freedom in the 

 management of his forest. 



Main lines in complete unison with the ordinary railway 

 system of a country should be constructed and managed 



