Geschichte und Betrieb:farm-tramways

More and more farmers learn from industrial production methods and are using them to their advantage. As we could learn from the later, co-operation had most positive effects. Also in farming co-operatives between the various farmers of a specific locale can bring them an optimized profit. This for example in the construction and use of movable (temporary) railroads by a farming community.
It is a well known fact, that railroads make transportation easier and for about 75 per-cent cheaper, even when employing animal-power instead steam locomotion. It is interesting to think about such a temporary railroad held by a community, and to calculate the financial advantage when employing it in such duties as logging, exploiting a peat-bog, operating a quarry, or moving a greater amount of earth in construction work. It is important, that every individual must have its own profit in this co-operation, that he even can stay free to rent the railroad and its cars for a small fee - with this in mind, it is no exaggeration to say, that there will come a time, when every community, every larger farm will have its own special railroad.
In Great Britain and France these railroads are already wide spread. To construct such a movable railroad, neither locomotives nor higher expenses are necessary. Above illustration shows a movable farming-railroad in a farming-school and sugar-mill in France. The railroad is built to transport sugar-beet from the fields, coals etc. in light cars which are pushed by the workers.

Also to transport marl, or in general, soils when improvements to the ground have to be done, it is advisable to use a movable railroad, the dump-cars of which (right) are easily pushed and can be unloaded from turntables to any desired direction.
The tracks consist of 18 feet long T-shaped rails, 55 mm. (2-1/8") wide on top and 15 mm (9/16") thick. These rails are fixed to cuts in wooded cross-ties which are put to the ground 3 feet apart. The cars running on these tracks are equipped to tip to the side. Laying these tracks to a curve dosn't present problems: the ties are put on the ground in the desired distance, than first the inner rail is fixed to the ties, which is easily bent to the needed curvature. Than the outer rail is laid parallel with the first on. It must only be paid attention to elevate the outer rail against the inner, to smoothen the movement of the cars, and prevent against derailments. It is selv-evident, that the wheels of the cars turn on fixed axles.

If the railroad is to cross a wagon-road, 4 timbers of about 18 feet length are bolted to the cross-ties to allow for a level crossing, just as it is done on every other railroad. To garanty a uniform gauge, the cuts in the cross-ties, which are made from usual soft wood, must always have identical dimmensions. The inner saw-cut is a vertical cut of 25 mm (1") depth, but the outer cut is slightly bevelled to prevent the mounting wedge, that will have a fitting shape, can not move up when driven in. The wedges are always driven with a wooden hammer with long handle.
One yard of this movable railroad costs about 1-1/2 Thaler. Two men are required for track laying, and depending on their exercise are capable of laying between 200 and 300 yards a day, provided there are encountered no difficulties in grading. Taking up the rails is even faster. The cost of a single car is about 48 Thalers. This is a cost of 650 Thalers for a rail line of 1,200 feet in length, not included the cost for the cars. The value of this kind of investment is easily figured, when you know that a single man can move a load of 2000 pounds easily when using a car running on rails. Furthermore it is a known fact, that on a well constructed railroad a horse is capable of pulling six times the load than it can pull with waggons on the usual country-roads, and this without excessive effort since a load in movement nearly runs by its own.

Another use of the movable railroads is found in the construction and earth-movement required with effective irrigation projects. To start an irrigation project, first the landscape involved first has to be thoroughly leveled for determination of the proper drop, followed by the earthwork to dig and level the ditches.
Since in most irrigation projects great amounts of earth have to be moved, some french engineer had the idea to do this work with the aid of machinery, thus constructing the earth-moving machine (Terrassir-Maschine) shown to the left. These machines consist of a movable steam-engine which powers an endless bucket-belt. The box-shaped buckets are made from heavy sheet-steel. The buckets are positioned in a way, that it will fill with anything it can grip. When conveyed by the belt to the highest point of the construction it will unload itself onto a doublesided discharge which end above low-sided cars running on a movable railroad. These earth-moving machines are usually used in the way that anyone interested can rent them from the owners for the particular work to be done.