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The Covasna - Térrét "local interest railway" (HÉV) line was inaugurated in 1892, with a gauge of 760 mm. At the Covasna end of the line, a load transfer point, criss-crossed with standard-gauge and narrow-gauge tracks, was established. Apart from this, run-around facilities were granted only at the upper end of the 5.8-km-long line. The alignment was designed to avoid the village (later town) of Covasna, but at Vajnafalva the tracks pass very charmingly next to the houses before entering the continuously narrowing, beautiful "Valley of Fairies". A 4-track station was built here to serve as a run-around and vehicle transfer point, as this is where the local railway (HÉV) joined the extensive forestry railway network of Comandãu via the gravity operated inclined plane system, which is now a unique industrial monument. Beérve a faluba. The Transylvanian Forest Industry Co. established its first sawmill in the village of Gyula, which was shortly followed by another one at Comandãu, 6.6 kms away. The centre of the village, and the only real industry to be found here, was the sawmill and the adjoining yards of the forestry railway. The station, which was built for heavy traffic, remains with four tracks up till today. This is where tracks radiated from to the sawmill and the different facilities: engine shed, carriage shops, drasine sidings and also the different lines: the incline to Covasna, the lines to Neruzsa, the Small Basca and Big Basca valleys, etc. In its heydays, the network was up to 200 kms long. Changing a lot during its history, lines were sometimes built and sometimes abandoned. The inclined plane is also a product of the great engineering methods of the 19th century. Mr. Dávid Horn started the construction of the incline but after a change in ownership, the Groedel family were the ones to complete it. The Groedels founded the Transylvanian Forest Inductry Company, which appointed Mr. Emil Lux to design the inclined plane connecting the Covasna and Comandãu railways. This system is today the sole surviving example of the gravity operated, self-acting inclined plane system, which means that the descending laden wagons pull up the empty ones by their weight. The technical features of the incline are special even today. The railway can theoretically be split into two halves: the upper and the lower part, which are divided from each other by the intermediate station. The upper half has three rails, the middle one being used by both carriages, but from different sides. The lower section is a conventional, two rail track. At this end of the intermediate station a switch is operated by the staff. At the upper end of the station, however, the two inner rails join each other and create a gauntleted track, where the middle rail serves as the inner rail for both lines, the wheels using the respective sides of the rail. The upper terminal of the incline gives place to the braking mechanism housed in a wooden shelter, and the both roll-on tracks. The most important reasons for closing the line were the following:
Reasons For Stopping Traffic On The LineThe inclined plane
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