Decauville railway at Láchar
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| Decauville railway at Láchar | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Alcañices on the Arroyo de Escoznar bridge, ca 1890
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| Line length | 22 km (14 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Decauville railway at Láchar was an 8.3 km (5.2 mi) long narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) from Íllora-Láchar railway station via the Eiffel Bridge to the sugar mill in Láchar.
The 8.3 kilometres (5.2 mi) long Decauville railway with rails weighing 9,5 kg/m (19 lbs/yard) ran over two metal bridges, of which one was designed Gustave Eiffel and erected by Fives-Lille.[2][1] The track on the site of the sugar mill was 172 metres (564 ft) long. It ended at a turntable at the western end of the site.[3]
History
Growing sugar beets and producing sugar from them caused a major structural change in the Vega de Granada at the end of the 19th century.[4] The landlord and businessman Julio Quesada y Piedrola, Duke of San Pedro de Galatino, Count of Benalúa and Señorío de Láchar planned and contracted the sugar mill and the industrial railway during or shortly after the Exposition Universelle (1889) in Paris. It was put into service in 1890.
King Alfonso XIII, a personal friend of the Count of Benalúa, visited and used the railway to travel to the sugar factory. It was closed in 1926, due to the crisis in the sugar industry.[3]