Byvalla – Långshyttan railway line

Byvalla – Långshyttan
Byvalla water tower
Route number :	BLJ
Route length:	26.7 km
Gauge :	891 mm ( Swedish 3-foot track )
Maximum slope :	20  ‰
Top speed:	20 km / h
Operating points and routes
Legend Klosterverken 27 Långshyttan   Rällingsberg Gruva 1868-1935 27 Nordviken 22nd Vasterby 19th Rörshyttan Hamn Grycken 16 Stjärnsund Stjärnsunds såg 13 Greetings day 12 Villingen 1905-1955 Nordbäcksbo kalkbrott ( cable car ) 1917-1925 9 Dalaåsbo (Åsbo) 1892– Åsbo 7th Lerhyttan 1896– 2 Valla gård (Valla) 1893– Reloading facility freight yard on the narrow-gauge line Godsstråket genom Bergslagen by Krylbo 0 Byvalla Godsstråket from Bergslagen to Storvik

The Byvalla – Långshyttan (BLJ) railway was a narrow-gauge Swedish railway line . It was built by Klosters aktiebolag , a private mining company, between Byvalla and Långshyttan in Kopparbergs län .

prehistory

In the municipality of Husby, southwest of Hofors , the iron industry had been a tradition since the 14th century. North of Långshyttan, pig iron production began on Hienshyttan and south in Stjärnsund, Olof Blå began iron production in Kloster in 1650. In 1871 Klosters AB was formed, which took over the ironworks Kloster, Långshyttan, Stjärnsunda and Engelsfors, the blast furnaces Edsken, Rörshyttan and Silfhytteå as well as the mining operations Rällingsberg and Villingens kalkbruk. Considerations were made to improve the transport routes between the company's individual locations. Due to the prevailing economic situation, it was decided to build a combined rail and waterway from Långshyttan to Born station on the Falun – Gävle railway line .

→ Main article : Kommunikationleden Born – Långshyttan

Track construction

The Born – Långshyttan communications trail turned out to be increasingly uneconomical because it had little capacity and the lakes were frozen over in winter. Therefore a better way was sought to connect the operations in Långshyttan and Stjärnsund with the rest of the Swedish rail network.

Therefore, it was decided to build a railway with 891 mm gauge from Långshyttan via Stjärnsund to Byvalla on the Norra Stambana . The new route was not intended for general traffic, but only for personal use. Therefore no license was applied for.

Construction began in May 1889. The calculations, drawings and the unplugging of the line were carried out by Schachtmeister O. Härdner, who had just completed the construction of the Vintjärn – Linghed section of the Dala – Ockelbo – Norrsundets Järnväg (DONJ). He was recommended by the traffic director JA Westerlund of the DONJ. Härdner was the construction manager and his assistant was the engineer G. Kjellberg.

Construction was carried out quickly as the site did not cause any major problems. In May 1891, the eleven-kilometer section Långshyttan – Stjärnsund was opened for temporary traffic. A little more than six months later, on December 1st, the entire route was opened to private freight traffic.

Now the company was exposed to strong public pressure. It was intended to open the route for general freight and passenger traffic. Therefore it applied for the public transport concession. Approval was granted on March 27, 1893. After the necessary adjustments to the train stations and stops, as well as the purchase of passenger cars, the route was opened for public transport on June 1, 1893. The construction costs amounted to 450,000 crowns . The route was built with rails weighing 11 kg / m per meter, the permissible axle load was five tons. A maximum speed of 20 km / h could be driven. These low values ​​were based on the requirement to use parts and vehicles from the old communication route between Långshyttan and Born. The rails were sufficient for these wagons with low load capacity. It soon turned out that the capacities were very limited. Therefore, all rails on the main track were quickly replaced with those weighing between 19.8 and 24.8 kg per meter. This made it possible to increase the loading capacity because an axle load of 8.6 tons was possible, and the speed could also be increased to 35 km / h.

vehicles

Different vehicles were procured for the route in the course of the following years. The first two steam locomotives were taken over by the Born – Långshyttan communications trail . In total, the following rail vehicles were procured:

number	Surname	design type	Wheel alignment	Manufacturer	Fabr.-No./ year of construction	Special
1	OSKAR	Tank locomotive	B 1 t	Kristinehamns Mekaniska Verkstad , Kristinehamn	26 1880	1890 by communication leden Born – Långshyttan , scrapped 1916
2	MONASTERY	Tank locomotive	C t	Nydqvist och Holm , Trollhättan	303 1889	1891 by Kommunikationleden Born – Långshyttan , handed over to Långshyttan in 1919, in use until 1957, preserved as a monument locomotive in Långshyttan
3	STJERNSUND	Tank locomotive	C t	Kristinehamns Mekaniska Verkstad, Kristinehamn	54 1891	Scrapped in 1937
4th	LÅNGSHYTTAN	Tank locomotive	C t	Motala Verkstad , Motala	176 1897	From 1964 to 1971 in use in Klosterverken, 1971 on the Upsala – Lenna Jernväg museum railway
5	THOR	Tender locomotive	1 D 2	Vagn- & Maskinfabriksaktiebolaget Falun , Falun	107 1909	Worked until 1964, 1974 on the Upsala – Lenna Jernväg museum railway
6th		Tank locomotive	1 D t	Motala Verkstad, Motala	566 1915	1965 at the Anten – Gräfsnes museum railway
7th		Tank locomotive	C t	Motala Verkstad, Motala	96 1888	built as WÖJ 4 , in 1919 at Mellersta Östergötlands Järnväg , bought as scrap in 1936, in use until 1947 after being put back into operation, scrapped in 1950
8th		Tank locomotive	C t	Motala Verkstad, Motala	273 1901	Built in 1901 for Ulricehamns Järnväg , No. 4, in 1907 to Ljungbyholm – Karlslunda Järnväg , No. 4, acquired from Västra Centralbanan in 1937 , 1972 from Jädraås – Tallås Järnväg Museum Railway
9		Tank locomotive	1 B t	Motala Verkstad, Motala	196 1898	Built in 1898 for för Mariestad – Kinnekulle Järnväg , No. 6, 1909 to Västergötland – Göteborgs Järnvägar , No. 22, 1941 by VGJ, 1968 to Museum Railway Jädraås – Tallås Järnväg
10		Tank locomotive	1 C t	Nydqvist och Holm, Trollhättan	824 1906	1906 to Mellersta Östergötlands Järnväg , No. 5, 1947 by MÖJ, scrapped in 1957
11		Tank locomotive	C 1 t	Helsingborgs Mekaniska Verkstad , Hälsingborg	19 1900	1900 for Dannemora – Hargs Järnväg , No. 4, 1948 by DHJ, scrapped in 1956.
		Diesel shunter	B.	Bjurström AB slip material , Västervik	1929
		Diesel shunter	B.	Bjurström AB slip material, Västervik	1935	1972 to Upsala – Lenna Jernväg , today at Tjustbygdens Järnvägsförening

This means that five locomotives were in service in 1916, after which no new builds were acquired.

For the transport of raw materials such as iron ore, limestone, coal and oil, semi-finished products such as pig iron and finished rolled steel products, there were 168 freight wagons in 1893, most of which came from the horse-drawn railway. They were supplemented by newly acquired cars, 23 of which were made in 1894. In 1955 there were 153 cars. Many of them were made by the Klosters company itself.

An Atlas passenger car was purchased for public transport . There were also some old wagons from the horse-drawn railway era. Two cars were built internally in 1902 and 1908. From Svenska Järnvägsverkstäderna (ASJ) in Linköping 1917, a vehicle has been purchased, the at Museumsbahn Jädraås-tallas Järnväg is kept. A used passenger car, manufactured by Vagn Aktien Bolaget I Södertälje (Vabis) von Södertälje in 1897, was taken over by Mellersta Östergötlands Järnväg in 1948. This is preserved at the museum railway Wadstena – Fogelsta Järnväg .

photos

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  Stjärnsund railway station

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  Långshyttan train station

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  BLJ 4 LÅNGSHYTTAN

Freight transport

Iron as ore and as finished products made up the largest volume of transport on the railway line. From Rällingsbergs gruva the ore was transported by train to Långshyttan until 1935. Then the ore came from Smältarmossen in Garpenberg until 1944. From there it was transported by truck to Dala-Åsbo, where it was loaded onto the train and taken to Långshyttan. Further deliveries of ore came from Bispberg in Säter and from pits in the region around Fagersta . This had to be reloaded in Byvalla.

Nordbäcksbo kalkbrott – Dalaåsbo cable car

Lime was one of the raw materials needed for the iron manufacturing process. There was a limestone quarry in Nordbäcksbo since 1836. After the railway was built, the lime was brought to the loading point in Villingen by horse-drawn cart and then on to Långshyttan by train. The horses were replaced by a cable car to Dala-Åsbo station in 1917 . This was in operation until 1925, when a lightning strike in 1925 set the cable car station on fire. The company did not reopen because the company had access to a limestone quarry in Valla through the group, which had been in operation since the 1870s.

Valla kalkbrott – Valla cable car

From Valla the lime was brought to a transshipment point in Byvalla by horse and cart. A standard gauge track of the SJ led to this. To make transport easier, a cable car was built from the quarry to the Byvalla reloading point in 1922. In 1926 the transshipment point was opened up by a three-rail track, so that the lime could be loaded directly into the narrow-gauge wagons of the BLJ. In 1947 the limestone quarry was closed and the lime deliveries were made via the standard gauge with SJ trains to the transshipment point. This only lasted a year because the foundry in Långshyttan closed in 1948.

Plans for the conversion to standard gauge

In Byvalla, all goods had to be reloaded in standard gauge wagons. In the first few years of operation, this did not matter because work was relatively cheap. With increasing labor costs , reloading became more and more expensive. Therefore, in 1946 an investigation was carried out with a view to converting the line to standard gauge. It turned out that the widening within the factory premises would only have been feasible at very high costs. The plans therefore provided for a standard-gauge route to the loading areas. The narrow-gauge traction should be maintained for internal transport.

On the track, six corners should have been reinforced and a number of corners with tight radii enlarged. On some of these curves, the previous maximum speed would have had to be maintained and all rails replaced.

The cost of construction was calculated at 1.6 million crowns, of which 0.3 million would be within the factory premises. The company hesitated and the expansion never came about.

Shutdown

The last scheduled train ran on Friday, July 31, 1964. A few freight cars were then transported sporadically, the last of them on November 13, 1964. The demolition of the line began in 1965 and ended the following year.

literature

• Byvalla – Långshyttans järnvåg . In: Vetenskapsakademi (ed.): Sveriges statskalender för år 1925 . Almqvist & Wiksell boktryckeri AB, 1925, ZDB -ID 205099-7 , p. 1154 (Swedish, runeberg.org - proof of ownership).
• [1746] Byvalla-Långshyttans järnväg. In: Svensk rikskalender. PA Norstedt & Söners Förlag, Stockholm 1908, p. 695 (Swedish, runeberg.org - proof of ownership).

Web links

• History of the railway at historiskt.nu (Swedish)
• BLJ, history, pictures (Swedish)
• Route at Stig Lundin

Individual evidence

1. ^ Byvalla – Långshyttan. Bandel 207. In: banvakt.se. Retrieved February 10, 2016 . 
2. ↑ Fördjupad översiktsplan för Stjärnsund, page 20/21. (PDF; 11.3 MB) Hedemora kommun, September 1999, archived from the original ; accessed on February 10, 2016 . 
3. ↑ Locomotives partly to Stig Lundin. Retrieved March 14, 2013 . 
4. ↑ to Pospichal locomotive list . Retrieved March 14, 2013 . 
5. ↑ Construction list from Kristinehamns Mekaniska Verkstad. Retrieved March 14, 2013 . 
6. ↑ Construction list from Nydqvist & Holm. Retrieved March 14, 2013 . 
7. ↑ Construction list of Motala. Retrieved March 14, 2013 . 
8. ↑ Construction list of Vagn- & Maskinfabriksaktiebolaget Falun. Retrieved March 14, 2013 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b} after Pospichal locomotive list . Retrieved March 14, 2013 . 
10. ↑ Väg- och Vattenbyggnadsstyrelsens, Allmänna arbeten 1893. (PDF; 7.8 MB) Statistiska centralbyrån, p. 70 , accessed on March 14, 2013 . 
11. ↑ Väg- och Vattenbyggnadsstyrelsens, Allmänna arbeten 1893. (PDF; 7.4 MB) Statistiska centralbyrån, p. 62 , accessed on March 14, 2013 .