Eskolan metsärata

Introduction

The Eskola forest railroad, also called the small railroad (Pikkurata), in the central part of Central Ostrobothnia, was an unusual phenomenon in Finnish forestry. Pikkurata, owned by the national board of forestry Metsähallitus, was a narrow-track timber transport railroad. At its longest, it was almost 70 kilometres long. It was built by hand through rough forest terrain, using the tools of the early 1900s. The railroad and its locomotives, wagons and pump trolleys was used for about 40 years, from the early 1920s to the early 1960s.

The approximately two million cubic meters of timber that were transported along the railroad came from the forests of Sievi, Reisjärvi, Toholampi and Lestijärvi. However, more than timber was on the move, as hundreds of people with their diverse backgrounds and stories also travelled along the line. The majority of workers on the sites came from the nearby regions, but some from further away in Finland as well. At the beginning, about a hundred Soviet marines, who had rebelled and fled the Kronstadt fortress, also worked here.

The village of Eskola, with its railway yard and buildings, prospered after the Pikkurata was built in the 1920s. New inhabitants moved to the village because of the jobs available there. The over ten-kilometre distance to Kannus, the closest village with a church, meant that various services and activities were independently arranged in Eskola. For example, the inauguration of the Eskola People’s House took place in 1924. The rapid growth of the village aroused a range of opinions and even suspicion among the local population. As Arto Ojakangas writes in his novel Pölkynvälit:

”I just find it nice that there is more life in the village. Many of the younger people in the village think like me. Older people and especially the farmers whose land the railroad crosses are suspicious or even hostile, in the same way as the grannies. Most followers of the Awakening, whose conventicles I also attend and whose conviction I share, believe that decent life will disappear from the village due to the forest railroad. However, no one can deny that the income from Pikkurata has kept hunger away in many a cottage.”

The trees felled in forests were drawn by horses to the pick-up places along the forest railroad, where load workers lifted the timber by hand to railway wagons. It was not until the mid-1950s that the first chainsaws were introduced and used along with frame saws and axes. In Lestijärvi timber was floated to the railroad along waterways. Men carried firewood in their arms, but bigger amounts of timber were rolled along stretches to the wagons. Four locomotives transported timber from the backwoods to Eskola, which was the operational and administrative centre of the project. From Eskola, the timber was transported by the trains of Finnish State Railways VR to sawmills, factories and harbours. Felling, loading, discharging and maintenance could sometimes employ as many as 500 people in the winter.

Ojakangas writes:

“A small locomotive is huffing and puffing in the direction of the railroad. It is moving backwards and pushing the loaded wagons next to the wagons left by the big locomotive. The small train stops. A man runs and stops between the locomotive and the first wagon, and soon the locomotive leaves and the wagons stay. A plank is soon put between the wagons, and the men start to carry firewood along it from the small wagons to the big ones. That is called discharging.”

The men who came to work at the felling sites lodged in cabins built along the railroad or sometimes even in chimneyless dirt huts. There were also stables for horses. The loaders lived in caravans, which were moved along the railroad according to demand. Especially in the early days of the railroad, living was not pleasant in the confined and cold premises, where vermin were also common. Over the course of time, the conditions improved as the lodgings became more functional and the national board of forestry employed "cabin hostesses" to take care of cooking and cleaning.

The national board of forestry ended operations on the railroad in the early 1960s because the railroad had become unprofitable. The stock and rails were sold as scrap iron. Some of the workers’ forest cabins were sold to private parties and moved elsewhere, and some disappeared completely. The workers began to work in agriculture or in factories, while others moved to Sweden.

All that remains is the Saarivesi lakeside cabin from 1947 and the Eskola locomotive shed, which is today an active village hall. A museum locomotive and its wagons have been placed in the village hall yard. In the courtyard of the Eskola house (Eskola-talo), there is a miniature of the forest railroad. You can find a heritage centre (Perinnekeskus) near the Eskola summer theatre and lido.

A forest road is all that remains of the demolished railroad, optimal for hiking or exploring by vehicle. Along the road there are signboards about the history of the destinations.

Actors and sources

Manuscript: Kari Ilmonen (translation by Sirpa Vehviläinen, University of Jyväskylä Language Services)

Photos: Kari Ilmonen, Pitkin Pikkurataa -hanke and Matti Parikka

Graphic layout: Creative Preludi

Team: Kari Ilmonen, Arto Ojakangas, Miia Tiilikainen, Jaakko Hautamäki, Tuomo Härmänmaa, Veli-Matti Tornikoksi and Matias Meriläinen

Sources:

Eskola, elävästi eteenpäin. Metsäratamuseo/saha. http://www.eskolankyla.fi/matkailu/metsaeratamuseo-saha

Eskolan metsärata. Elämää Pikkuradan varrella. Toim. Arto Ojakangas. Eskolan Kyläyhdistys ry. Kannus 2016.

Kotoisin Kannuksesta. Historiaa, kuvia ja tarinoita. Toim. Eero Hanni. Kannus-Seura ry. Kannus 2015.

Ojakangas, Arto: Pölkynvälit. Länsirannikko 2005. Kokkola.

Ojakangas, Arto: Linnunkantaja. Länsirannikko 2009. Kokkola.

Ojakangas, Arto: Aurinkomutka. Länsirannikko 2012. Kokkola.

Ruuttula-Vasari, Anne: Eskolan metsärata eli pitkin pikkurataa. Kannuksen ja Sievin kulttuurilautakunta. Ylivieska 1988.

Welcome to the Eskola forest railroad

The Eskola forest railroad, used by the state for timber transport, employed hundreds or even thousands of people in the village of Eskola and the neighbouring municipalities. Even though this railroad was closed in the early 1960s, its history is cherished in various ways.

There are Forest Railroad Museum destinations in various parts of Eskola. In the village centre, you can find the heart of the railroad: a locomotive shed renovated as a village hall and a museum locomotive in the yard. The miniature of the forest railroad in the yard of the multi-service centre Eskola house is an interesting destination, and the Eskola house offers lunch and coffee. At the forest railroad heritage centre, located near the summer theatre and lido of Eskola, you can also find a replica of the first locomotive used on the forest railroad.

The former roadbed can be explored on foot, by bike or by car. Participation in an organised hike on the forest railroad is an exciting way to see historical natural landscapes, but you can also travel along the route independently.

The forest railroad is an important part of Eskola because it has given the village its own special character, visible even today.

Come and explore this unique destination!

Discuss on twitter #MetsärataGL!

Tweet #MetsärataGL

#MetsärataGL tweets

Services

Eskola village

http://www.eskolankyla.fi/

Outdooractive

https://www.outdooractive.com/en/route/thematic-trail/central-ostrobothnia/eskola-forest-railroad-theme-route-by-genius-loci/33060482/

Eskola village

Eskola house (Eskola-talo), Koulutie 3 / Locomotive shed (Veturitalli), Eskola village hall, Pinolankatu 1 / Heritage centre (Perinnekeskus) 63.9079N 24.1731E Kannus

Along with the forest railroad, the area around the Eskola railway station gradually became a lively and multifaceted working and residential area. The timber brought from back forests to the station was loaded directly to VR wagons, or chopped wood was piled temporarily into huge shelters to wait for later loading. In addition to the locomotive shed, the railway station yard comprised an office building, a reparation workshop, a coal shed, a firewood shed, store sheds and staff’s residential buildings. The Kujala café was an important rest stop.

A building for drying cones, a nursery garden, a woodchip factory and a sawmill were also built near the station area. The cone-drying building provided seeds that were planted in the forests of Metsähallitus. The nursery garden, whose water tower still exists, produced pine and spruce seedlings for the needs of forestry areas. The chips of the woodchip factory were used as fuel in cars, especially during the Continuation War. The sawmill prepared timber mainly for the needs of workers’ cabins, stables and other buildings.

Accidents could not be avoided either. A locomotive could hit a car or fall off the forest railroad anywhere, and there were fires as well. For example, the Eskola station yard and village were threatened in August 1955 when firewood shelters caught fire. The fire area was large and threatening, but thanks to the hard work of several fire brigades, they were able to restrict and finally extinguish the fire. More than 7,000 cubic meters of firewood burned, but a more serious catastrophe was avoided.

Stories

“The locomotive shed was my favourite place. It was black and dim there, and I always found some locomotive where I could examine the mechanics and compare with other locomotives. Number 1 and Number 2 were of similar size, as far as I can remember. Number 2 was used the most. Number 3 was bigger and made in Finland. The biggest of them was Ranko.” (Email interviews with Seppo Paavola 2015, Eskolan Metsärata)

“Firewood shelters were also built later. There the goal was eight firewood wagons by five men. The firewood was fresh, so it was hard work. The shelters usually consisted of five piles and were 20 meters long, (…) but some also comprised seven piles and were longer than 20 meters.” (Eero Ojakangas reminiscing, around 1995, Eskolan Metsärata)

“I need some orientation with the working phases that follow roadbed draining. In addition to draining work and the clearance of the railway route, various other tasks are going on at the same time: gravelling the railway embankment, placing the sleepers and rails; constructing the locomotive shed, workshop and residential building; building workers’ cabins along the railroad, acquiring the stock, and planning and starting the felling. (…)The railroad already extends to faraway state forests. Firewood cutting is urgent just to ensure fuel for our own locomotives, and we should be able to transport goods further. The railroad should be profitable!” (Ojakangas: Aurinkomutka 2005)

“The locomotive is smoking. I don’t quite trust it and its staying on the rails, and I always try to keep a distance between it and myself. There’s no harm in being wise with machines. They say that the steam from hot water makes the locomotive move. Let them say what they believe. I do not believe. If hot water could make iron move, I’m sure all iron and coffee pots would glide to Russia or Sweden as well. They would glide! (…) The gentry try to make us believe anything. They’re in alliance with the Devil. The Devil!” (Ojakangas: Aurinkomutka 2005)