Industrial railways are private lines used to transport goods to and from industrial sites. They are typically short in length, but exceptions exist, such as the iron ore industrial railway in Western Australia and the sugarcane production process in Cuba. Special locomotives are designed for narrow gauge length industrial railways. The NASA railway in Florida is an example of an industrial railway still in use. Organizations exist to preserve industrial railway heritage.
An industrial railway generally refers to a private railway line that is used exclusively to service industrial sites or transport goods. Industrial railways can be found in places like mines, ammunition depots, or factories. The rail cars on these industrial railways generally transport goods to the industrial site or transport materials away from it. Temporary industrial railway lines can also be built, such as in the case of a construction site.
Most industrial railways are short in length, usually covering only a few miles. They were a common feature in the early days of industrial transportation. With the growth of transportation methods such as aviation and trucking, industrial rail became a less widely used form of transportation.
The iron ore industrial railway in Western Australia is an exception to the rule that industrial railways are short in length. These railways are hundreds of kilometers long. Large-scale industrial railways can also be found in Cuba, where they are an important part of the sugarcane production process. They were also an important part of the industrialization of the Soviet Union. Large industrial railway lines existed in Siberia and the Ural Mountains, transporting materials such as iron ore across the country.
Industrial railways may also have a narrow gauge length which sets them apart from normal railways. A narrow gauge length is generally defined by a track gauge length that is less than 4 feet 8 1/2 inches (about 1.44 meters) of the standard gauge length. These types of industrial railways are typically used for industries such as mining, logging, quarrying, or transporting agricultural products.
Special locomotives were also designed to suit these narrow gauge length industrial railways. For example, in the Soviet Union, the Kukushka – Cuckoo in Russian – was a small locomotive used to transport fuel and fertilizer for collective farms. The Kukushka was known for its distinctive whistling sound, from which it received its name.
Another example of an industrial railway is the NASA railway located at Cape Canaveral, Florida. It has a length of 38 miles (about 61 kilometers). This industrial railway is used to transport equipment such as solid rocket propellants and is an effective way to transport large items. The track runs from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to the Florida East Coast Railroad line.
As industrial railways are disappearing, there are many organizations dedicated to their preservation. For example, the Ayrshire Railway Preservation Group in Scotland and the Hermes Gregariou Friends of Railway Association in Greece seek to preserve industrial railway heritage. These groups typically purchase industrial rail sites that are no longer in use. These industrial railways are usually converted into an interactive museum type of space that is open to the public.
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