Portage railway

A Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway engine, an example of a small locomotive on a narrow-gauge portage railway.

A portage railway is a short, and possibly isolated, section of railway used to bypass an unnavigable section of a river or to connect two bodies of water which are not directly linked. ^[1] Cargo from waterborne vessels is unloaded, transferred onto conventional railroad rolling stock, and transported to the other end of the railway, where it is then unloaded and loaded onto another waterborne vessel. A portage railway is essentially the opposite of a train ferry.

Examples

The following are or were locations of portage railways:

Australia

• Victor Harbor to Goolwa – originally horse drawn – mouth of Murray River often silted up or was useless due to low water levels.
• the first railway in Queensland started at the inland river port of Ipswich rather than the capital of Brisbane to save money. Twenty years later, the line was extended to Brisbane.
• several rail lines terminated at river ports, such as Robertson, Echuca, Bourke, Morgan, Brewarrina

Brazil

• Madeira-Mamoré Railroad (365 km; 227 mi) along the huge rapids of upper Madeira

Canada

• Carillon and Grenville Railway
• Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad
• Chignecto Ship Railway
• Huntsville and Lake of Bays Transportation Company
• Nosbonsing & Nipissing Railway
• White Pass and Yukon Route

Central African Republic

• Zinga to Mongo

China

• The Three Gorges Portage Railways, on each side of the Yangtze River in the Three Gorges Dam area (see Three Gorges Dam#Portage railways). Preliminary work on this project started in 2012. ^[2]

Japan

• The Keage Incline Railway, 582 meters in length, once connected Lake Biwa Canal to the Nanzenji Boat Reservoir in the Kyoto Kamo River ^{[3] [4]}

Congo-Brazzaville

• Congo-Ocean Railway

Congo-Kinshasa

• Matadi–Kinshasa Railway
• Ubundu to Kisangani, see Great lakes line first section

England

• Cromford and High Peak Railway connected Cromford Canal to the Peak Forest Canal

Greece

• Diolkos near Corinth Canal

Laos

• Don Det – Don Khon narrow gauge railway

Panama

• Panama Railway

Russia

• Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric dam ship elevator ^{[5] [6]}

United States

• Allegheny Portage Railroad
• Morris Canal
• New Castle and Frenchtown Turnpike and Rail Road
• Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur Railroad

Czechia

• Narrow gauge line on Kamýk Dam used for transport of canoes and flatboats over the dam.

References

1. Derek Hayes (2006). "Historical Atlas of Canada: Canada's History Illustrated with Original Maps". Douglas & McIntyre. p. 210. ISBN   9781553650775 . Retrieved 2013-03-23. Most of Canada's first railways were portage railways, designed to meet river traffic and ferry it past rapids.
2. 三峡翻坝铁路前期工作启动 建成实现水铁联运 [Dam in Three Gorges railway preliminary work completed to start the implementation of water and railway transport] (in Chinese). 2012-10-12. Archived from the original on 2015-09-04. Retrieved 2016-04-20. 据透露，已经于去年底开工建设的紫云地方铁路,预计明年建成通车。紫云地方铁路接轨于国家铁路焦柳线枝江站，连接猇亭、白洋、姚家港三大开发区以及云池、白洋、田家河、姚家港/q> (The article includes a map)
3. "Keage Incline - The Old Railroad Track lined with Sakura". www.kanpai-japan.com. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
4. "Keage Incline | Highlights | Japan Heritage The Lake Biwa Canal". biwakososui.city.kyoto.lg.jp. Archived from the original on 2025-01-18. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
5. "Прохождение судами Енисейского пароходства судоподъемника Красноярской ГЭС - Фотогалерея". (Boats of the Yenisei Shipping Company traveling via the ship lift of the Krasnoyarsk Hydroelectric Station: Photo gallery) (in Russian)
6. From River to River - photo gallery, 2007