45.- Ferrocarriles y minas en la Sierra de la Demanda
Ferrocarril Minero de Monterrubio a Villafría
Ferrocarril Secundario de Haro a Ezcaray
This paper discusses the development of railway communications in a vast mountainous region that encompasses parts of Burgos and La Rioja, focusing on its mining origins. As we delved deeper into each of these lines of communication, we were struck by the relationship between some of the main promoters of the various mining and railway projects carried out between the second half of the 19th century and the 1920s, more specifically, during their peak period between 1890 and 1920, a period from which a period of decline or decline began for its main mining operations. In a time of great uncertainty regarding estimates of potential mineral wealth due to the inaccurate calculation methods of the time and the constant fluctuation in mineral prices, line projects often failed, their hypothetical profitability being overestimated, a result of enthusiasm in a widespread trend toward the modernity represented by the railroad. Nor were the economic forecasts for the amortization of public service lines based on potential passenger or freight figures accurate, because in many cases the short-term profits generated by the construction of these first railways took precedence for bankers financing the projects, railroad equipment and infrastructure construction companies, owners of expropriated land, or speculative business developers.
The book is organized into chapters that refer to some of the different regions of the Sierra de la Demanda. As the area is extensive and the mining operations are widely scattered, the selection criterion for the mining areas under study was the location, within each chosen region, of any railway projects or even any cable or aerial tramway projects for mineral transport that we are aware of. We used as reference axes the Villafría-Monterrubio and Haro-Ezcaray railway lines, with their mining areas of Altos Pedroso and Arlanzón in Burgos and Alto Oja in La Rioja. Also included is Alto Najerilla in La Rioja, with a horse-drawn mining railway in Mansilla, and the Juarros coal mining region in Burgos, very close to the Villafría-Monterrubio line, where an aerial tramway was also built. We have not considered the Santander-Mediterranean line that crossed the mountain range at its southern end, considering that it was built somewhat later and that we do not see any links with the mineral wealth of that area, which also existed. We conclude this work with a chapter examining all the railway projects of all kinds that, for various reasons, never saw the light of day in the region. Among the latter, it is worth highlighting the steam tram project between Haro and Pradoluengo through the Tirón Valley and, above all, the failed attempt to build the Madrid-Irún line from Burgos, skirting the mountain range through the Oca and Tirón valleys, passing through Haro instead of Pancorbo, when the railway was beginning its journey, tracing its main axes through the peninsula as a potential engine of development compared to the animal-drawn vehicles of the time.
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Characteristics
Date of publication: 05/2025
Language: Spanish
Nº of pages: 208
Authors: Enrique Díez González, Lluís Prieto, Mariano Rodríguez Gonzalvo
Size: 22 X 20 X 1,8 cm.
ISBN: 978-84-944844-8-3