Ørsø – Asaa railway line
| Ørsø – Asaa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Map of the Asaabane
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| Route length: | 5.4 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating points and routes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Ørsø – Asaa railway was a railway line on the east coast of the Danish island of Vendsyssel . It led from Ørsø to Asaa and was built and operated by Fjerritslev – Frederikshavn Jernbane .
history
As early as 1887 a train connection to Asaa was thought of. Long before the Sæbybane was built, Asaa had been one of the dynamic cities where businessmen drove railroad construction. After the connection between Frederikshavn and Norresundby was built, the situation changed, because now Dronninglund had a rail connection and overtook Asaa as the region's trading center.
It was not until the Railway Act of May 27, 1908 that a legal basis was created for a route from Asaa via Ørsø to Dronninglund or from Asaa to Dronninglund. Government grants amounting to half of the invested capital were guaranteed. Dronninglund and Ørsø were train stations on Sæbybane.
In May 1913, the funds for the route to Asaa were ready, starting from Dronninglund via Ørsø. The state grant has been promised to the Fjerritslev – Frederikshavn Jernbane company . There were no votes against, but it was believed that the new route would affect operating results.
The route was built in record time. The 5.2 km long branch line connected to the Nørresundby Havn – Sæby – Frederikshavn line, which opened on July 18, 1899, and was inaugurated on November 11, 1914. A station building was built at the terminus in Asaa.
The stretch was not a big win for Asaa and the surrounding area, but it was used by the local fishing companies and an engineering works.
Only a few years after the route was opened, there were again voices suggesting closure. Several studies had recommended that the route be closed due to the relatively low traffic. The branch line remained in operation until the closure of the main line between Sæby and Norresundby. The line with rails weighing only 17.5 kg per meter was the last private railway line in Denmark to have these light rails in use.
Operations ceased when the line between Norresundby and Sæby was closed on March 31, 1968.
Route and buildings
The route was built with rails weighing 17.5 kg per meter . From 1942 the gravel bed was replaced by a ballast bed. The Asaabane began at the eastern end of the three-track Ørsø station. The trains on the branch line always used platform 2. The Kovshede stop, which opened in 1917, was not included in the official timetable until 1919.
The station building in Asaa lay across the ends of the tracks. The main track did not have a turntable until 1947/48 . The main track was track 2, track 1 connected to the goods shed, track 3 served as a bypass track and track 4 as a siding. The building has been used as a kindergarten since 2003 .
Vehicles and operation
Fjerritslev – Frederikshavn Jernbane increased their vehicle fleet by five passenger cars , three baggage cars and ten freight cars . Initially there were five trains a day in each direction, four of which were in pairs to and from Dronninglund, as the treatment facilities for the vehicles were there.
The two steam locomotives FFJ 6 and FFJ 7 ( Jung , built in 1898) were converted into tank locomotives with a 2'B wheel arrangement for operation. These locomotives were "tailor-made" for the Asaabane. The machines received water tanks on the sides of the boiler and the coal container was installed behind the driver's cab. The locomotives had the same properties when driving forwards and backwards.
With the procurement of railcars from 1922 onwards, they mainly took over passenger transport on this route. Rail buses purchased later were usually not used. In the last few years of operation, the line was home to the two-axle triangle railcars, which were given one or two sidecars as required.
From 1929 a shunting tractor from Breuer from Germany was used for shunting operations, which was supplied with a four-cylinder petrol engine and mechanical gearshift. During the Second World War it was equipped with a gas drive, after which it was given a six-cylinder Bedford truck engine with 76 hp, which was powered by gasoline. The maximum speed was 25 km / h. After another conversion in 1959 with a Perkins diesel engine with 75 hp, it was sold to Maskinfabrikken Toppenberg in 1969 , to Danske Statsbaner in 1971 and to the Dansk Jernbane-Klub in 1973, where it is operational in Aalborg.
In the later years of its existence, the route was used by three trains in each direction. In the last year of operation, most of the traffic between Dronninglund / Ørsø and Asaa was handled by bus. Of the twelve daily connections in each direction, only three were made by train, the rest were bus connections.
The railcar left Aalborg at 6:15 a.m., often had a freight car with it and usually went to Ørsø and from here directly to Asaa, where it arrived at 8:06 a.m. During the day, the railcar ran twice to Dronninglund and back. At 6:06 p.m. the train went back to Aalborg, where it arrived at 7:36 p.m. This schedule allows freight traffic to and from Asaa in both directions.
Web links
- Asaabans. In: Nordjyllands Jernbaner. Retrieved March 30, 2015 (Danish).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fjerritslev – Frederikshavn Jernbane steam locomotives. In: jernbanen.dk. Retrieved March 30, 2015 (Danish).
- ↑ Fjerritslev – Frederikshavn Jernbane, Motor Locomotives. FFJ M 1207. In: jernbanen.dk. Retrieved March 30, 2015 (Danish).
- ↑ List of Limfjordsbanens køreklare motormateriel og vogne. In: limfjordsbanen.dk. Retrieved March 30, 2015 (Danish).