Swedish Preservation Escapades

[Corbs]

Back in the innocent days of 2011 I stumbled across a preserved railway in my partner's home town of Kärrgruvan (Västmanland county). It's the Ängelsberg-Norbergs Jarnväg or ENJ and uses the classic Y6 railbuses in the summer months.

 

 

BUT what I had not previously realised was that 5 minutes drive from where we are currently staying in Avesta (in neighbouring Dalarna) is Krylbo Lokstall.

 

Krylbo is a pretty awesome looking station which was and still is a major junction. 2 lines come in from the North meeting 2 from the South.

The station building dates from 1902.

 

The old water tower is of a typical local design and is also rather pretty.

 

Just to the south of the station is the roundhouse where SKÅJ is based.

SKÅJ  stands for Stockholms Kultursällskap för Ånga och Järnväg (Stockholm Cultural Society for Steam and Railway) and is a play on 'skoj' which means 'fun' or 'joke'.

 

The current building is about the same age as the station. It has survived partially thanks to a refit in the 1950s and after that it became a base for permanent way maintenance. Part of the roundhouse has had the tracks shortened and the roof lowered to serve as a storage room.

 

We popped down and managed to catch Roger, one of the volunteers, just as he was locking up for the day. He was very friendly and said we could come back the next day for a guided tour!
So today we arrived just as they were using this Scania wrecker to winch a rather interesting coach onto the turntable. The deck is in the process of being replaced on one side.

 

 

One of the volunteers owns this rather beautiful Volvo which I thought was appropriate.

 

Straight away we were invited into the cab of the Type 21 0-8-0DH getting ready to shunt the coach off the 'table and into the main workshop road.

 

The T21 is an impressive beast, built by MaK in Germany (with a larger Swedish cab). Jackshaft drive in the centre of the loco.

Photo from the SKÅJ website.

 

The coach was VERY interesting. Built in 1946, it was a pantograph test coach. As can be seen in my pic, it has a raised observation section.

The outside needs a lick of paint but the inside is incredible, it's like it's literally just come off a test train.

 

 

This is one of the main test rooms. I am standing directly under the observation windows.....

 

 

This was AWESOME. It's a sofa on twin motorised screws so that it can be raised up into the roof. The little footrest folds down so your shoes don't dangle.

 

Since the power was off, I clambered up and had a look out at the test pantographs...

 

 

... and back towards the Type 21. The intention is to renovate this coach for charter trains, so imagine what this would be like being towed by a steam loco!

 

 

Of course there are cameras for pantograph monitoring, these feed into a massive VHS recorder which is all still intact, complete with tape.

 

 

In the middle of the coach are sleeping compartments which convert into standard seats, as well as a little kitchen and office. At the other end is a boardroom complete with speedometer and filing cabinets. The report files from the last few runs are still in the cabinets!

 

 

 

More to follow...

 

 

Edited July 28, 2022 by Corbs

[Dava]

Interesting feature on the heritage line. Is there a SJ rail map you could upload to show the location on the rail system as the maps included don’t show the rail lines?

 

Dava

[Corbs]

Steam locos.

 

There are currently 5 ånglok on-site. 2 are the class J 2-6-4T which have the unusual arrangement of inside cylinders but with part of the valve gear outside the frames.

 

The J class behind me in this pic is SJ No. 1298, now known as 'Lotta'. This loco had the distinction of being one of the last standard gauge locos working in Sweden, and is of particular interest to the museum as from 1972-1977 it was owned and operated by the local Jularbo-Månsbo Railway (JMJ). All of the locos working this line were known collectively as Månsbo-Lotta, and this was the last of them. I am told that when classmate No.1401 was worn out and scrapped, the driver was hoping for a bigger and more impressive loco, but what he actually got was an exact replacement taken directly off SJ's scrap line!

 

Directly behind Lotta is another J class loco No.1296. This one has a very good condition boiler as it was overhauled for the Swedish Strategic Reserve. It has been the victim of scrap metal thieves who stole the non-ferrous but thankfully most are stock items.

It is suggested that 'Lotta' may be put back into traffic first due to the local significance, but using the boiler from her sister engine.

Both the J class locos were formerly at another museum that already had working Js so were somewhat surplus to requirements.

 

 

The museum has 2 class B 4-6-0 locos. The B is Sweden's equivalent to the Black 5, being a mixed traffic 4-6-0 with outside valve gear. Introduced in 1909 and derived from a German design, the working example at the museum is No.1323 from 1917, which goes out on the mainline. 

 

 

 

 

Incredibly the coal they are using here is STILL coming from the old Strategic Reserve stock!

 

 

 

Undergoing long-term restoration is No.1696 from 1943. This was from a batch of 3 Class Bs built for Stockholm–Västerås–Bergslagens Järnvägar, 24 years after the previous ones! It has roller bearings on the tender and front bogie.

The B class is incredibly numerous both in Sweden and elsewhere as 99 were made and many were kept for the Strategic Reserve (which ditched all its steam locos in 1990). Some have gone to other countries like the UK, Holland, Belgium and elsewhere. Roger told me that they have a tendency to waggle at speed unlike their inside-cylinder equivalents.

 

 

In between the two Bs is E10 class number 1742 built 1947. Another German-derived design, this is a 3-cylinder 4-8-0 (3 sets of Walschaerts) with 4ft7"ish driving wheels.

 

Of the 10 built, 5 were coal fired and 5 were oil fired. This is one of the latter.

 

 

Our tour guide Roger was the driver on a mainline charter of empty timber wagons. On this trip they calculated that at full chat the loco was consuming 300 litres of oil for every 10km travelled!

As such this loco has not been out in some time, though there is at least 1 other operational E10 in Sweden.

 

 

Special mention must also go to this...

 

... which is essentially a locomotive boiler (similar to that used in some 0-6-0Ts but saturated and simplified) but mounted in a 4-wheel van. As Sweden started to go electric in the 1920s, the transition period was long. This wagon was used to steam-heat coaches when the electric (or in some cases diesel) loco had no train heating facility.

 

Amazingly this next wagon is the opposite! A wooden bodied van from the 1890s, it was retrofitted with a pantograph and the transformer from a scrapped electric loco in order to supply electricity to trains if they were hauled by a steam or diesel loco!

 

 

 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Corbs

[Corbs]

10 hours ago, Dava said:

Interesting feature on the heritage line. Is there a SJ rail map you could upload to show the location on the rail system as the maps included don’t show the rail lines?

 

Dava

 

Hi Dava, thank you. I have tried to annotate the google maps one as it wasn't very clear. SJ lines are in pink with the Ängelsberg-Norberg line in brown (it uses SJ metals along part of its route) and Krylbo roundhouse in blue.

This also shows how close the Jularbo-Mårsbo railway was to where Krylbo is now.

 

 

 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Corbs

[Corbs]

Electric locos.

 

As SJ adopted electric traction so early, their steam loco development plateaued somewhat. At the museum it was fascinating to see the developments of the electric locos they had there.

 

There are 3 class D 2-6-2 locos on-site.

No.887 is a 1955-built class Da (note the rounded window corners on the front). This has been used as a parts donor and is in the scrap line awaiting disposal.

 

This photo is from Roger Lundberg on the SKÅJ facebook page.

 

Inside the roundhouse and in much better condition is Du2 class No.302, built 1932 as a class D and converted into Du2 (indicating the addition of multiple unit gear enabling it to work with Rc class locos too) in 1975.

Note the square corners on the cab windows.

You can also see the brass whistle above the cab (operated by air pressure).

 

 

Out in the yard is sister loco No.424 (1936), but in non-operational condition, just parked at the head of a train.

 

These locos had one brake compressor behind the cab at one end. Apparently the drivers preferred using the other cab due to the compressor noise.

The first 245 built had wooden bodies rather than the later steel ones as seen here.

 

Here's a photo of the multitude of contactors inside. From memory I think he said there are 16 speed settings each requiring 3 contactors.

 

 

Here is one of the 2 traction motors viewed from above with the inspection plate off.

 

 

 

No.620 is a 1944-built class Mg Co-Co and the sole survivor of this type. It was built for the tough Norrlands lines where the D types were not strong enough and the double-locos not bendy enough.

Having two three-axle bogies was a departure from the rod drive of previous locos.

 

These have two compressors (one behind each cab) with the air tanks inside the nose. Apparently this helped when working in cold climates.

Unlike the D type locos this one does not use contactor combinations for speed settings.

 

 

No.994 is a Class Ra Bo-Bo. It was designed to haul lightweight aluminium-bodied carriages at high speed, but those trains never really materialised.

It was built in 1961 as one of 10. A few are in preservation. Unfortunately this is currently non-operational due to issues with the air system that will cost a lot to fix, although there are two spare bogies for it.

 

Interestingly this one does have contactors.

 

 

The control setup is rather modern with the deadmans handle mounted on the centre of the wheel. The dials are illuminated by a UV lamp!

 

 

 

One of the spare bogies with the transformer wagon in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

[Dava]

8 hours ago, Corbs said:

 

Hi Dava, thank you. I have tried to annotate the google maps one as it wasn't very clear. SJ lines are in pink with the Ängelsberg-Norberg line in brown (it uses SJ metals along part of its route) and Krylbo roundhouse in blue.

This also shows how close the Jularbo-Mårsbo railway was to where Krylbo is now.

 

 

 

That helps a lot, thank you. Sweden is a large & thinly populated country in the most part, so it helps orientate your photo coverage & description.

 

Dava

[Patrick SPF]

The E10 was actually a SJ version of the earlier Halmstad Nässjö Järnväg class G12 (SJ E9), with some standard SJ fittings and roller bearings.
The G12 may have been in part derived from an earlier 2-8-0 class which was imported in the early 1920's.
The HNJ had quite a lively freight and passenger traffic and need something that could haul a passenger train and speed and also deal with heavy iron ore traffic.
Looking at the various books I suspect the design was a mixture of the HNJ's own mechanical department and NOHAB ideas

[EddieB]

Fascinating!

 

I'd overlooked this preservation site, but then Sweden can prove challenging as many such places are only open/operational during summer weekends.  Mg 620 was loaned to Gävle for an anniversary event in 2006 - I saw it there, but thought it was part of the "home" fleet!

[Patrick SPF]

The best way to see who is open and when is a publication called Tågsommar - https://www.tagsommar.se/  they up date annually but it is mainly in Swedish

[5944]

Keep them coming please Corbs. I've only had the pleasure of visiting the country once, back in 2015 when the Swiss Krokodil visited as part of their 100th anniversary of electric traction. A lot of fun, and Gävle was a very impressive set up.

 

I looked at going for the Kiruna iron ore festival earlier this month, but quickly gave up on that idea once I realised just how far north it is. Plus the missus would've killed me!

 

A lovely country, I just wish I'd had been able to go for more than 3 nights. And I enjoyed the fact that in the supermarket in Stockholm Central station, bottles of beer were cheaper than bottles of Coke!

[Corbs]

1 hour ago, 5944 said:

Keep them coming please Corbs. I've only had the pleasure of visiting the country once, back in 2015 when the Swiss Krokodil visited as part of their 100th anniversary of electric traction. A lot of fun, and Gävle was a very impressive set up.

 

I looked at going for the Kiruna iron ore festival earlier this month, but quickly gave up on that idea once I realised just how far north it is. Plus the missus would've killed me!

 

A lovely country, I just wish I'd had been able to go for more than 3 nights. And I enjoyed the fact that in the supermarket in Stockholm Central station, bottles of beer were cheaper than bottles of Coke!

 

There's some great footage of the iron ore festival on this channel. The 0-10-0 and the tri-unit electric loco are very impressive!

 

 

 

On 24th September, Krylbo are having a steam-up day when the B Class will be in action. Sadly I will be back in the UK then :(

 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2022 by Corbs

[5944]

26 minutes ago, Corbs said:

 

There's some great footage of the iron ore festival on this channel. The 0-10-0 and the tri-unit electric loco are very impressive!

 

 

 

On 24th September, Krylbo are having a steam-up day when the B Class will be in action. Sadly I will be back in the UK then :(

 

 

 

I had a ride behind the Dm3 in 2015. The Swedes weren't interested in haulage or chasing different locos, just there for a day out. Even so, it was amusing being in the front coach and every single voice was English!

[roythebus1]

I'm fortunate to have a friend in Gothenberg who is very active with the Ringlinien tramway museum. He's celebrated 40 years of service with them and over 20 as a driver. He's out and about every day at the moment running the museum trams round Gothenberg. If you head over that way an ride the Ringlinien ask for Calle and tell him you know me, he speak ggod engerlessh, he learn eet from a boek! And is into Monty Python. My other friend there is tony Hultman, fleet engineer for Ringlinien.

 

I had a family visit there in 1982 and we were lucky to see one of the steam specials running while we were there. There was also a couple of vintage electric locos in one of the depots in town.