Jokioinen Museum Railway

The 750mm gauge railway from Humppila to Forssa, a distance of 24 km, opened in 1899 and closed in 1974, but in 1971, even before it closed, a museum society was running trains for tourists. A museum was formally established in 1978 and now operates trains over a 14.2 km section of the line with three stations and six unmanned halts. A connection with the state railway is made at Humppila station. A particular attraction of the railway is the opportunity given to visitors on days when scheduled trains are not running to hire pump-action handcars of the kind once used by permanent way maintenance staff, and to find their own picnic spots along the line.

Jokioisten station is near the late eighteenth century neo-classical mansion house of the Jokioisten estate, which once extended over 32,000 ha. Warehouses and farm buildings have been adapted to new uses and the complex includes an English-style tea house.

The headquarters, workshops and souvenir shop of the railway are at Minkiö, together with a museum with artefacts from most narrow gauge railways in Finland. Visitors can take guided tours of the locomotive sheds where they may see two steam locomotives built at Tubize in Belgiium in 1947, and a well tank engine by Krauss of Munich.

The original terminus was at Forssa, the site of some of the textile mills established by John Finlayson (1771-1852). Passenger services on this section of the railway ceased in the 1950s and complete closure came in 1974, but a coach takes passengers between Forssa and the railway during steam festivals. Standard gauge wagons with textiles travelling to and from Tampere were once carried on specially-designed narrow gauge wagons on the railway. An electric tramway was formerly operated by the Finlayson company through Forssa and a tiny Siemens overhead electric locomotive of 1898 which worked on it is kept in a glass case outside the cotton mill.