Narrow-gauge railways in Finland explained

The vast majority of Finnish narrow-gauge railways were owned and operated by private companies. There are only a few instances where narrow-gauge railways were in direct connection with each other, and those interchanges did not last for long. The railways never formed a regional rail traffic network, but were only focused on maintaining connections between the national Russian-gauge railway network and the off-line industries.

Some railways were closed due to competition from the roads, others were converted to Russian gauge.

Common carriers

• The Lovisa–Wesijärvi railway (1900–1960) that operated an 800NaN0 line between Lahti and Loviisa.
• The Hyvinkää–Karkkila railway that operated a 460NaN0 line
• The Jokioinen Railway that operated a 231NaN1 line until 1974, being the last common-carrier narrow-gauge railway in Finland.

Other lines were notably shorter. The common gauges were and, with a few railways built with and gauges.

Tourist and heritage lines

Narrow-gauge tourist and heritage lines of gauge and narrow gauge still operate.^[1]

• Jokioinen Museum Railway,, 14 km, Jokioinen–Minkio–Humpilla.
• Nykarleby Jernväg,, 2 km.
• Tankavaara Kultakylä,, opened in 1997.
• Outokummun Kaivosrautatie,, 1.15 km, former copper mine.

Other

• Rokua railway,, 3.3 km (2.1 mi), line connecting a hotel with a fitness center

Notes and References

1. http://www.scanrailsoc.org.uk/ng.html#Directory of preserved narrow gauge railways in Finland