Aalborg – Hvalpsund railway line

Aalborg – Hvalpsund
former Fandrup train station
Aalborg – Hvalpsund Banen
Route length:	(from Svenstrup) 65.8 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Operating points and routes
Legend Frederikshavn – Aalborg railway from Frederikshavn and the Fjerritslev – Frederikshavn railway from Frederikshavn 0.0 Aalborg Freight depot Aalborg Havnebane Connection to Dansk Eternit Aalborg – Hadsund railway to Hadsund and Østhavnen 3.9 Skalborg (formerly train station, handling point for AHB 1942–1969) Connection Fællesforeningen for Danmarks Brugsforeninger 9.3 Svenstrup (originally Bhf.) Randers – Aalborg railway to Randers Godthaab Hammerværk 12.6 Godthåb (ticket office, loading platform 92 m) 15.0 Tostrup (from 1944) 16.3 / 16.8 Store Restrup (from 1944) 17.6 Sønderholm (from 1902 crossing track 142 m, from 1915 210 m, from 1968 stopping point) 19.3 Nyrup Mark (from September 24, 1938) 21.4 Binderup (ticket sales point, stop from January 1, 1921) 21.4 Skal (from October 2, 1949) 24.6 Nibe 27.4 Lundbæk (ticket office, stop from January 1, 1921) 29.1 Sebbersund (loading platform 148 m, was on the east side of the Sebber Sund) 33.4 Halkær (loading platform 124 m, stop from 1968) 35.7 Hedegårde (from May 15, 1949, for rail buses from August 1, 1944) 37.6 Vegger (loading track 87 m, crossing track 157 m) 39.6 Skivum (from October 2, 1949) 40.7 Langdal (from October 2, 1949) 42.4 Blære (loading platform 138 m) Blære grusgrav (until 1956) 45.9 Svenstrupgårde (from May 25, 1955) Himmerlandsbanerne from Løgstør 49.6 Aars DSB / Aars ANSJ (until 1910) Himmerlandsbanerne to Aalestrup 52.5 Pisselhøj (from May 15, 1949, for rail buses from August 1, 1944) 54.0 Jelstrupgårde (from May 15, 1949, for rail buses from August 1, 1944) 55.9 Havbro (crossing track 178 m) 58.1 Holme (from 1936 breakpoint) 61.9 Farsø 64.2 Fandrup (loading platform 127 m, stop from 1964) 65.4 Dammergårde (from October 2, 1949, for rail buses from 1944) 68.8 Ullits (loading platform 232 m) 72.1 Hestbæk (from November 12, 1950) 74.2 Illerisøre (from November 12, 1950) 75.1 Hvalpsund (crossing track 247 m) Sundsøre Ferry connection Hvalpsund – Sundsøre (from 1927) (from 1927) (from 1925)

The Aalborg – Hvalpsund railway line is a railway line between Aalborg and Hvalpsund in Himmerland in what is now the Nordjylland region , which was opened in two sections between 1899 and 1910. It was expanded in 1927 by the Hvalpsund – Sundsøre railway ferry .

The builder of the first section between Aars and Svenstrup via Nibe , called Nibebanen , was the private Danish railway company Aars-Nibe-Svenstrup Jernbane (ANSJ). With the extension, the company was renamed Aalborg-Hvalpsund Jernbane (AHJ). The entire route was called Hvalpsundbanen .

The line was discontinued on March 31, 1969.

Aars – Nibe – Svenstrup Jernbane

The railway line from Svenstrup to Nibe was included in the Railway Act of May 8, 1894 . The concession was granted to Aars – Nibe – Svenstrup Jernbane on December 23, 1895 , and construction work began in spring 1897. Most of the route ran through hilly terrain with gradients of up to 12.5 ‰, so that more powerful locomotives than for private railways normally had to be procured in Denmark. At the time, the rails used were also heavier than on other routes, weighing 22.5 kg / m per meter . A maximum speed of 45 km / h was permitted on the route, which was opened on July 16, 1899.

The cost of construction was 1,817,811 crowns . This included the procurement of three steam locomotives and 30 wagons, including 19 freight wagons.

Between Aalborg and the new Svenstrup used from December 8, 1902 Aalborg-Frederikshavn Line of the DSB (DSB), which opened a new station in Aalborg. In Svenstrup, DSB built a new station west of the line, as the old ANSJ to the east was too small. The private company ANSJ had built a locomotive shed , a turntable and a workshop in Svenstrup , as the station was the terminus for three years before the opening of the DSB line.

ANSJ was the only private railway company that owned a line between two DSB stations. In order to be independent of DSB, the management decided to set up its own expedition in Aars at one end of the route, where the driving personnel were stationed. ANSJ built a warehouse and a coach house in Aars, but not a station building. Initially, clearance was carried out from the DSB station directly opposite. In 1903, ANSJ set up a dispatch point in the department store and handled the transport itself. The travelers could use the waiting room in the state railway station.

Aalborg – Hvalpsund Jernbaneselskab

The extension of the route from Aars to Hvalpsund was included in the Railway Act of May 27, 1908 . The concession was granted on November 13, 1908, construction began in April 1909. The construction costs amounted to 907,360 crowns and included the procurement of two more locomotives and ten cars, including six freight cars.

The section opened on July 2, 1910. The last kilometers northeast of Hvalpsund led the route along the Limfjorden . In the first few years there were major problems with flooding, so that coastal protection measures were constantly necessary.

After the expansion, the company was renamed Aalborg-Hvalpsund Jernbaneselskab and the handling service in Aars was transferred to DSB. Until 1917 the company used the name AHJ for Aalborg-Hadsund Jernbane . After Aalborg Privatbahnen (APB) was founded, the name AHJ was changed to AHB ( Aalborg – Hadsund Banen ) because the name AHJ was used by Aalborg – Hadsund Jernbane .

Nordjyllands Forenede Privatbaner

The company had meanwhile moved its headquarters to Aalborg and together with the two other private railways Fjerritslev – Frederikshavn Jernbane (FFJ) and Aalborg – Hadsund Jernbane (AHJ) formed an operating company under the name of Nordjyllands Forenede Privatbaner .

Aalborg Private Railways (APB)

In 1917 the company Nordjyllands Forenede Privatbaner was renamed Aalborg Privatbaner (APB).

Ferry connection between Hvalpsund and Sundsøre

The goods shed in Sundsøre after the renovation. In the background the landing stage to Hvalpsund

In 1925 the AHB received a concession for a railway ferry connection across the Hvalpsund to Sundsøre in Salling . This ferry connection remained the only private railway ferry in Denmark.

The diesel powered ferry Hvalpsund was built in Aalborg Værft . The ferry was Denmark's smallest rail ferry and could carry four freight wagons or 22 cars. On May 25, 1927, the ferry and the small freight yard in Sundsøre with storage and waiting room were put into operation.

The ferry took twelve minutes to make the crossing, and seven crossings per day were made in each direction after the start of operations.

The transfer of freight wagons across the Hvalpsund decreased sharply after the Second World War . The ferry line was taken over by the two neighboring communities and is in operation as a car ferry.

Further rail projects

For the Salling peninsula, a Nørre Salling Jernbane was proposed, which should create the connection between Sundsøre and Sallingbanen (Skive - Glyngøre ). The proposal was published with the Railway Act of March 20, 1918 , but was not implemented. Instead, a bus route was set up between Sundsøre and Roslev , to which Hvalpsundbanen gave a grant.

The projects in Himmerland that affected AHB stations were published with the same Railway Act:

• Aars – Arden – Øster Hurup Jernbane
• Sebbersund – Løgstør – Overlade Jernbane - this would have shortened the distance between Aalborg and Løgstør and would have been more competitive as a rail route compared to seafaring. AHB saw this proposal as positive. This would have shortened the own section of the route to 29 km from Sebbersund instead of 50 km via Aars.
• Aalborg – Nørager Jernbane - would have become a serious competitor for the AHB. The route would have crossed the AHB route in Sønderholm. From there the way to Aalborg would have been shorter.

Like most of the other items in the Railway Act of 1918, these projects were not carried out.

Shortest land connection Aalborg – Viborg

With the ferry across the Hvalpsund, AHB saw itself as a regional connection between the parts of Himmerland and Salling. The route was the shortest connection between Aalborg and Viborg , it was 102 km via Nibe – Aars versus 111 km via Hobro - Aalestrup (with changes in both places) and 132 km via Randers –Langå. In 1926, the management of the AHB made DSB aware of the possibility of taking the shortest route by direct train, which they ignored.

Aars train station

The line met the Himmerlandsbanerne at Aars station . When the line was extended in 1910, the original station was closed and the DSB station was also used. From 1966, Aars was just a freight yard.

Shutdown

The line was closed on March 31, 1969. The dismantling of the track system began on June 3, 1969 in Svenstrup and was completed three months later.

Existing station buildings

The older buildings between Svenstrup and Aars were drawn by the architect Thomas Arboe , the plans for the new station buildings between Aars and Hvalpsund come from Einar Packness . The buildings in Godthåb, Nibe (demolished 1971) and Farsø (demolished 1977) no longer exist. There are the buildings in Sønderholm, Binderup, Lundbæk, Sebbersund, Halkær, Vegger, Blære, Havbro, Holme, Fandrup, Ullits, Hvalpsund as well as the Hvalpsund locomotive shed and the overnight building.

Preserved embankments

Of the once 65.8 km long route, 41 km of the embankment are still there.

On October 11, 2013 the Oldstien between Svenstrup and Godthåb was extended to Bjergbanestien between Svenstrup and Nibe. The site was acquired by the old Aalborg Municipality and the Nibe Municipality after the closure.

The nature conservation administration created the natural stone Nibe-Hvalpsund , which follows the embankment between Nibe and Havbro except for the sections in Aars and short stretches through Vegger and Sebbersund. Between Nygårdsvej in Aars and Løgstørvej west of the city, the embankment is still two kilometers long. However, the nature conservation administration chose the cycle path along Løgstørvej to continue the route. Only small pieces of the railway embankment have survived between Havbro and Hvalpsund, where the route mainly follows motorways.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hvalpsundbanen. In: Nordjyllands jernbaner. Retrieved December 20, 2014 (Danish). 
2. ↑ According to Fredberg and Hansen. S. 220, km 64.9. However, all book timetables show the station in km 64.2, which is 10.9 km from Hvalpsund
3. ^ Sven Århammar: Nyt om banestier. In: railtrails.dk. October 11, 2013, accessed December 27, 2014 (Danish). 
4. ↑ Banestien mellem Svenstrup and Nibe - culture and nature project. (PDF) Udskrift af beslutningsprotokollen. AALBORG BYRÅD, September 8, 2010, accessed December 27, 2014 (Danish). 
5. ↑ Natural stone Nibe-Hvalpsund Vesthimmerland. Naturstyrelsen, December 19, 2008, archived from the original on December 24, 2013 ; accessed on March 30, 2018 (Danish). 

literature

• Hans Jørn Fredberg, Poul Thor Hansen: Aalborg – Hvalpsund Jernbane . Ed .: Dansk Jernbane-Klub. tape 58 , 2009, ISBN 978-87-87050-60-9 (Danish).

Web links

Commons : Hvalpsundbanen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Hvalpsundbanen. In: baner-omkring-aalborg.dk. Retrieved March 20, 2015 (Danish). 
• Danske Privatbaner - Aalborg - Hvalpsund Banen - AHB. Pictures from the last day of operation. In: tog-billeder.dk. Retrieved March 20, 2015 (Danish). 
• Film from the last days of operation. Retrieved March 20, 2015 (Danish). 
• Farewell to the AHB. (PDF) In: www.jernbanearkivalier.dk. 1969, p. 48 , accessed on March 20, 2015 (Danish).