Askersund-Skyllberg-Lerbäcks Järnväg

Askersund – Skyllberg – Lerbäck
The KÅRBERG locomotive was handed over in 1881
Route length:	14 km
Gauge :	891 mm ( Swedish 3-foot track )
Maximum slope :	25  ‰
Minimum radius :	150 m
Top speed:	20 km / h
Operating points and routes
Legend 0.0 Askersund 90.6  m above sea level 3.1 Sjöstorp 118  m above sea level the highest point 145  m above sea level 7.9 Ingelsby 116.5  m above sea level 10.8 Skyllbergs Bruk 96  m ö.h. (1893) ~ 3 Kårbergs bridge ~ 14 Hjärtasjön (1928/34) Hultabo Klockarefallet Nyckelhult ~ 4 Ljungås torvmosse (1904) ~ 3 Rönneshytta såg (1915) Godsstråket genom Bergslagen von Hallsberg 14.0 Lerbäck 128.26 m o.h.  Godsstråket from Bergslagen to Mjölby

The Askersund – Skyllberg – Lerbäck Järnväg was a 14 km long narrow-gauge railway in the Swedish province of Örebro län with a gauge of 891 mm (Swedish 3- foot gauge). It operated from 1884 and was closed in 1955 .

Freight and passenger traffic took place on the Askersund – Skyllberg – Lerbäck section, and there were several sections of the route on which only freight traffic was handled.

history

History and planning

The first plans for a railway line came up in 1855, but were not implemented for various reasons. The concession for the standard gauge line of Hallsberg-Motala-Mjölby Järnväg (HMMJ) was granted in 1871. As a result, plans were drawn up for a branch line from a suitable point via Askersund to Karlsborg , but again not approved. In 1873 the HMMJ was opened.

The Skyllbergs Bruk ironworks was only four kilometers away from the new railway. The company quickly understood the benefits it could gain from a rail link on the new route. In the mid-1870s, the company's management decided to build a 4 km long narrow-gauge railway with 891 mm gauge from Skyllberg to a suitable location along HMMJ, and so the new Lerbäck station was created . The railway was put into operation in December 1873. Draw oxen were used for traction. The incline was such that the oxen pulled the wagons from Skyllberg uphill to Lerbäck. On the way back, the oxen were loaded onto the wagons and then drove downhill back to the factory.

First steam locomotive KÅRBERG

Station building in Askersund with locomotive no.1 'KÅRBERG'

In 1881 the oxen were replaced by a steam locomotive. The two-axle narrow-gauge railway locomotive was named KÅRBERG . Unloaded it weighed only 4,463 kg and, ready for use, filled with water and loaded with coal, had an operating weight of 5,568 kg. It was ordered from Nydqvist & Holm (NOHAB) in Trollhättan in the winter of 1881. The KÅRBERG was the smallest steam locomotive that was ever used on an 891 mm route in Sweden.

Askersund – Skyllbergs Järnvägsaktiebolag

In 1885 the route was extended by 3 km to the Kårberg nail factory. In September 1882, the owners of Skyllbergs Bruk met the Mayor of Askersund to try to start a company to build a railroad between Askersund and Skyllberg. The construction costs for the 11.22 km long route between Askersund and Skyllberg were estimated at 186,000 crowns with a track width of 891 mm without vehicles . An invitation to buy shares was issued. In December 1882 a meeting with the shareholders was held in Askersund and it was decided to found Askersund – Skyllbergs Järnvägsaktiebolag . The company's articles of association were adopted on March 24, 1883.

Construction of the route

Construction of the line began on June 1, 1883. The contractor was a good builder but had little experience building railroads. As a result, many mistakes were made in the planning and construction of the line, which delayed completion and caused considerable additional costs. On December 4, 1884, Askersund finally got its long-awaited rail connection when the 14 km long Askersund-Skyllberg-Lerbäcks Järnväg (ASLJ) line opened for general cargo and passenger traffic. Due to the upset during the construction period, the directors of Skyllbergs Bruks did not attend the opening ceremony, presumably to express their dissatisfaction with the events during the construction period.

In 1885 the ASLJ reported that the cost of the railroad, including vehicles, was 347,900 kroner. For this money, the company built the 14 km long narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 891 mm including stations and other buildings. The greatest gradient of the route was 25 ‰, and the minimum radius was 150 m. The steel rails weighed 14.3 kg per meter . The maximum speed was set at 20 km / h. The first vehicle fleet was three locomotives, five passenger cars and 24 freight cars. For the maintenance of the locomotives, a locomotive shed with parallel sidings for four locomotives was built in 1884 at the northern end of the marshalling yard in Skyllberg. At the southern end of the shunting area there was a turntable with a diameter of 5 m.

business

Station building in Askersund with the nameless locomotive no.5 acquired in 1905

Due to the high volume of traffic, additional locomotives and passenger and freight wagons were purchased in addition to the existing No. 1 KÅRBERG :

Steam locomotives

number	Surname	design type	Wheel alignment	Manufacturer	Fabr.-No./ year of construction	Special
1	KÅRBERG	Tank locomotive	B t	Nydqvist och Holm , Trollhättan	150 1881	Procured by Skyllbergs bruk , taken over by the company, shut down in 1931 with the cessation of passenger traffic, retired in 1954, offered by the management to the Sveriges Järnvägsmuseum, which was then based in Stockholm . Due to a lack of space, the offer was not accepted and the locomotive was then scrapped in Skyllberg
2	SKYLLBERG	Tank locomotive	1 B t	Nydqvist och Holm, Trollhättan	221 1885	Retired in 1943
2 "		Tank locomotive	1 C t	Nydqvist och Holm, Trollhättan	749 1904	built for Vikbolands Banan (VB), no. 7, 1913 to Hvetlanda – Sävsjö Järnvägsaktiebolag (HvSJ) no. 2 ", 1917 to Vetlanda Järnvägar (VJ) no. 2, taken over as 2" in 1943, retired in 1955
3	LERBÄCK	Tank locomotive	C t	Fletcher, Jennings & Co, Lowca Works, Whitehaven	121 1873	Taken over by Hjö – Stenstorps Järnväg (HSJ) No. 3 in 1883, retired in 1903
3 "		Tank locomotive	C 1 t	Kristinehamns Mekaniska Verkstad , Kristinehamn	13 1875	Nordmark – Klarälvens Järnväg (NKlJ), No. 3 UDDEHOLM , 1932 to Statens Arbetslöshetskommision (SAK), taken over in 1939, retired in 1943.
4th	SKYLLBERGS BRUK	Tank locomotive	1 B t	Motala Verkstad , Motala	197 1898	Retired in 1948
5		Tank locomotive	1 C t	Nydqvist och Holm, Trollhättan	762 1904	Retired in 1955

Route extensions

Shortly after commissioning, the railway company suffered its first economic challenges, which were reported on at the general meeting in October 1888. Nevertheless, in 1907 the route from Lerbäck to Ljungås was extended by 3 km. Between 1926 and 1933, the route network was extended by another 10 km to Hjärtasjön . In 1915 a 4 km long stretch was built from Lerbäck to the Rönneshytta sawmill . These routes were used exclusively for the transport of goods.

Decline and closure

On April 1, 1931, passenger traffic between Askersund and Lerbäck was stopped. During the Second World War and in the post-war period it was temporarily resumed to a limited extent from April 1941 to May 1948. Between 1941 and 1945 mainly schoolchildren were transported between Hultabo and Lerbäck.

The freight volume gradually decreased. The last freight train ran on January 15, 1955. The tracks were dismantled shortly afterwards for scrapping. The demolition was completed in autumn 1955.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stig Lundin: Linjen Askersund-Skyllberg-Lerbäck. In: stiglundin.se. Retrieved September 3, 2017 (Swedish). 
2. ↑ Rolf Sten: Banprofil ASLJ. In: historiskt.nu. Retrieved September 3, 2017 (Swedish).  
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Rolf Sten: ASLJ, Askersund-Skyllberg-Lerbäcks Järnväg, Snabbfakta 1/2. In: historiskt.nu. Retrieved September 4, 2017 (Swedish). 
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Eric Renstrand: Askersund Skyllberg Lerbäcks Järnväg - En bit järnvägshistoria. (PDF) In: aslj.se. Retrieved September 4, 2017 (Swedish). 
5. ↑ from locomotive statistics pospichal.net. Archived from the original on April 22, 2016 ; accessed on September 3, 2017 . 
6. ↑ ASLJ, Historia, Lok. Retrieved September 3, 2017 (Swedish). 
7. ↑ ^{a b} Rolf Sten: ASLJ, Askersund-Skyllberg-Lerbäcks Järnväg: Snabbfakta 2/2. Retrieved September 4, 2017 (Swedish). 

Coordinates: 58 ° 52 ′ 40.9 "  N , 14 ° 54 ′ 29.6"  E