Application of Cable-Railways for Timber Skidding

The article presents constraining factors of the use of traditional approaches for timber skidding in the winter logging period in the North-West Federal District of the Russian Federation. Based on the study of scientific literature, the classification of cable-railways is given, methods of fastening the platform or cable car to the traction cable, the peculiarities of cable selection are considered. The modes of operation of cable-railways are described (without an engine – as a timber slide, with an engine without a trailing cable, with an engine with a trailing cable), the basic requirements for cable-railways and factors limiting the scope of application of such roads are considered. A methodology for determining the driving forces is proposed. It takes into account the weight of the car moving on the slope, the number of cars, the angle of inclination of the track section, the resistance to car movement, additional resistance to car movement when passing curves, the weight of the cable, its length, the friction of the cable on the ground, sleepers and other obstacles, which depends on the condition of the track structure, the density of sleeper laying, ballast protruding on the surface, cable lubrication and other factors. In addition to the above, power losses from the resistance of track rollers when they are enveloped by the running down branch of the cable, friction losses in the trunnions of the winch drums and friction losses from the cable enveloping the winch drums were considered. The article discusses the conditions under which it is possible to move the car down the slope, as well as prevent slipping and provide cable braking in the grooves of the drums. Limitations for the use of cable-railways, depending on the nature of the track, rolling stock, slope angle of the track, average skidding distance, are determined. A technical solution to improve the existing cable-railways using an articulated carriage that increases the operational properties of cable-railways, is proposed. The proposed design allows to reduce the wear of cables and to organize timber harvesting, including on nonstraight skidding trails with rotation angles up to 45 degrees. At the same time, the design of the articulated carriage can be effectively applied on cable-railways already in operation. For citation: Svoykin F.V., Svoykin V.F., Sokolova V.A., Voinash S.A., Ariko S.Ye. Application of Cable-Railways for Timber Skidding. Lesnoy Zhurnal = Russian Forestry Journal, 2023, no. 5, pp. 115–125. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.37482/0536-1036-2023-5-115-12