FOREST-TRAMWAYS. 351 



The oldest permanent forest-tramway is in the Sihhvakl near 

 Zurich. The most important forest-tramway hitherto constructed 

 on level land in Germany was designed to remove the enormous 

 volume of timber (4 million cubic meters, or 2f million loads) 

 which had been killed by the " Nun " moth caterpillars, in the 

 forests of Ebersberg, Perlach, Sauerlach and Forstenried. This 

 tramway consisted of 12 kilometers (7| miles) of main line of 

 the ordinary gauge, from the railway-station of Kirchseeon, 

 passing through the middle of the devastated forests, with 

 40 kilometers (25 miles) of branch-lines, a gauge of GO centi- 

 meters (say 2 feet), and 27 kilometers (17 miles) of portable 

 lines which passed right up to the felling-areas. The construc- 

 tion of this tramway was commenced in August 1890, and it 

 was opened for transport by the beginning of December of the 

 same year, but has now been entirely removed. 



The forest-tramw^ays in the German Vosges near Barr, Rothau 

 and St. Quentin are the most important mountain-tramways 

 hitherto constructed. Owing to the nature of the locality, 

 consisting of narrow winding valleys, frequently with steep 

 gradients, many difficulties w^ere encountered during the con- 

 struction of these tramways, and deep cuttings, viaducts, 

 bridges and double curves are frequent. Thus, the Rothau 

 tramway, 40 kilometers long, with a gauge of 70 centimeters, 

 and worked by locomotive power, ascends 501 meters (1612 feet). 

 The branch-lines of similar construction to that of the main line 

 are 16 kilometers long, with a maximum gradient of 7'14 %. 



[In the State forests near Schlettstadt on the river 111, in Alsace, 

 which are liable to inundations, and where the construction of 

 roads is very costly owing to the spongy nature of the ground, 

 short portable tramways are used to transport the heavy oak and 

 other timber to the banks of the 111. — Tr.] 



[A forest-tramway* has been used since 1884 in the Changamanga 

 plantation near Lahore in the Punjab, for the transport of firewood, 

 and forest-tramways have been used in the Madras Presidency. — Tr.] 



For a discussion of the value and suitability of forest-tram- 

 ways, as compared with other means of transport, the reader is 

 referred to p. 421 of the present book. 



* Vide Indian Forester. Vol. XII.. p. 349, 



