Vaca Falls Railway
| Vaca Falls Railway | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Incline of the Vaca Falls Railway | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Line length | 15 miles (24 km) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 3 ft (914 mm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Vaca Falls Railway was a 15-mile (24 km) long 3 ft (914 mm) gauge logging railway between the Vaca Falls and the Chiquibui Forest on the Mountain Pine Ridge in Belize.[2]
History
[edit]The Vaca Falls Railway was operated as a funicular, using Montania benzene locomotives manufactured in Nordhausen. It was probably built in the mid-1920s by the Mengel Company of Kentucky,[3] and used for transporting mahogany logs.[2][4][5] The track belonged to the Belize Estate and Produce Company Ltd. and was in use until 1952.[2]
Old tracks, locomotives and parts, which had been made in Alabama in 1926 are still in situ on the farm of the Morales family in the bush at the Che Chem Ha Cave on the Vaca Plateau in the area of Arenal, south of Benque Viejo del Carmen still.
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![Montania locomotive[4]](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Vaca_Tramway._Montania_motor_loco.jpg/120px-Vaca_Tramway._Montania_motor_loco.jpg)
Montania locomotive[4] -
Starting the return journey aboard the 'Up we go' train -
Upgrade, Vaca Tramway -
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VF logs
![Montania locomotive[4]](/wiki/File:Vaca_Tramway._Montania_motor_loco.jpg)
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References
[edit]- ^ Bridgewater, Samuel (2012-01-20). A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest. University of Texas Press. p. 169. ISBN 978-0-292-73901-7.
- ^ a b c "Railways and Trains in Belize. A Guide to the Past". www.guidetobelize.info.[dead link]
- ^ Lan Sluder. "Lost Railroads of Belize". Ambergris Caye Belize Message Board. Retrieved 2023-01-05.[unreliable source?]
- ^ a b Up-grade, Vaca Tramway, Montania motor leco, and VF logs, 1923-1934, The National Archives UK, 2012-07-19, retrieved 2023-01-05
- ^ "Dept. Montania Nordhausen of O&K-A.G." www.feldbahn-richter.de. Retrieved 2023-01-05.