This list of heritage railways includes heritage railways sorted by country, state, or region. A heritage railway is a preserved or tourist railroad which is run as a tourist attraction, is usually but not always run by volunteers, and often seeks to re-create railway scenes of the past.
H Heritage rail operator | N Narrow gauge railway | S Standard gauge railway
DJK: Dansk Jernbane-Klub. Several heritage railways and operators are members of DJK
For a comprehensive list of heritage railways in France, see the article Liste des chemins de fer touristiques de France (French version of this article).
For a comprehensive list of heritage railways in Germany, see the article Liste der Museumseisenbahnen (German version of this article). The list includes railway museums that operate historic railway services.
For a list of heritage railways in the Republic of Ireland, see the article List of heritage railways in the Republic of Ireland .
Note that most of the heritage railway operators in South Africa have their own depots where locomotives and coaches are kept and serviced, but run on state-owned railways.
For a list of heritage railways in New Zealand, see the article List of New Zealand railway museums and heritage lines .
The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, often shortened to Rio Grande, D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a 3 ft narrow-gauge line running south from Denver, Colorado, in 1870. It served mainly as a transcontinental bridge line between Denver and Salt Lake City, Utah. The Rio Grande was also a major origin of coal and mineral traffic.
A mountain railway is a railway that operates in a mountainous region. It may operate through the mountains by following mountain valleys and tunneling beneath mountain passes, or it may climb a mountain to provide transport to and from the summit.
A heritage railway or heritage railroad is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period in the history of rail transport.
A Mallet locomotive is a type of compound articulated steam locomotive, invented by the Swiss engineer Anatole Mallet (1837–1919).
The Sumpter Valley Railway, or Sumpter Valley Railroad, is a 3 ft narrow gauge heritage railroad located in Baker County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. Built on a right-of-way used by the original railway of the same name, it carries excursion trains on a roughly 5-mile (8.0 km) route between McEwen and Sumpter. The railroad has two steam locomotives and several other pieces of rolling stock. Passenger excursion trains operate on weekends and holidays from Memorial Day through the end of September.
The Train des Pignes is a set of four metre gauge railways that once existed in the departments of Alpes-Maritimes (06), Var (83), Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (04) and Bouches-du-Rhône (13) in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur (PACA) région in southern France:
Upsala-Lenna Järnväg (ULJ) is a narrow-gauge heritage railway in Uppsala County, Sweden. It is 33 km (21 mi) long and is a part of the once extensive Roslagen network. The gauge is the 891 mm, unique to Sweden. The railway is run by the SRJmf society.
The Froissy Dompierre Light Railway is a 600 mm narrow gauge light railway running from Froissy to Dompierre-Becquincourt, through Cappy, in the Somme department, France. It is run as a heritage railway by APPEVA and is also known as P'tit Train de la Haute Somme. It is the last survivor of the 600 mm narrow gauge trench railways of the World War I battlefields.
The Rio Grande Scenic Railroad of Colorado was a heritage railway that operated from 2006 to 2019 in and around the San Luis Valley as a subsidiary of the San Luis and Rio Grande Railroad. The heritage railroad ceased operating excursions following a wildfire that damaged some of their facilities, as well as the parent company SLRG entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late 2019.
Rail transport in Morocco was initially developed during the protectorate. It functioned primarily as a means to mobilize colonial troops and to transport natural resources. Later, a standard-gauge network was built.
Benin has a total of 578 km (359 mi) of single track, 1,000 mm railway. Rail construction began around 1900, with regular services commencing in 1906; rail operation was taken into government control in 1930.
Swedish three-foot gauge railways are railways with the gauge 891 mm, or 3 Swedish feet in the old Swedish measurement system. Railways with this gauge have only existed in Sweden. This was the most common narrow gauge in Sweden. As of 2016, the total network with this gauge is 65 km (40 mi), all of which is electrified.
Sweden once had some fairly extensive narrow-gauge networks, but most narrow-gauge railways are now closed. Some were physically converted to 1,435 mmstandard gauge and some remain as heritage railways. The most common narrow gauge, 891 mm, exists only in Sweden. A smaller 3 ft 6 in gauge network existed, and 600 mm gauge was used mostly by smaller, industrial railways. Still other but lesser used gauges in the country were 693 mm, 802 mm, 1,099 mm, 1,188 mm and 1,217 mm, all converted or removed.
Stoomtrein Katwijk Leiden, is a 700 mm narrow gauge heritage railway line around the Valkenburgse Meer in the south of Katwijk, Netherlands. Although the name translates as Steam Train Valkenburg Lake, technically actually trams are used for the tourist attraction. Carriages are mostly remakes of early-20th century tram carriages, built by the Nederlandse Smalspoor Stichting in Katwijk.
The B class of the Swedish State Railways (SJ) was a type of steam locomotive for mixed traffic, introduced in 1909. 96 locomotives were built for SJ by between 1909 and 1919. The 4-6-0 B class was part of the development of modern superheated locomotives that had begun with the A class in 1906. Intended for fast freight trains and heavy stopping passenger trains, they proved to be highly useful in all types of traffic, and remained in use until the end of steam operations in Sweden.
The passenger train locomotives number 27–29 of Stockholm–Roslagens Järnvägar, usually referred to as stortyskarna, were the largest steam locomotives ever built for the Swedish three foot gauge railways. Initially used in fast passenger trains from Stockholm to Rimbo and Hallstavik, they were moved to freight service after the Stockholm–Rimbo Line was electrified in 1946. They hauled iron ore from Dannemora mine and transporter wagons from Uppsala, but were replaced by diesel locomotives during the 1950s. Two locomotives were leased at different times to the narrow-gauge network in Västergötland. Their last service was between Rimbo and Hallstavik in 1960. SRJ 28 has been preserved.
The Decauville railway at Exposition Universelle (1889) was a 3 km (1.9 mi) long 600 mm gauge railway line, which operated during the Exposition Universelle world fair from 6 May to 31 October 1889 from Esplanade des Invalides to Avenue de Suffren in Paris.
Norra Hälsinglands Järnväg (NHJ) was a narrow-gauge railway between Hudiksvall and Bergsjö in northern Gävleborg County, Sweden, in operation from 1896 to 1962. It was often called Bergsjökoa.