Gammelstad – Karlsvikshyttan railway line
| Gammelstad – Karlsvikshyttan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Route length: | 5.5 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Power system : | 1922-1931 (1939): 15 kV 16 2 / 3 Hz ~ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Gammelstad – Karlsvikshyttan railway is a 5.5-kilometer standard-gauge railway in Sweden . Museum trains run alongside freight trains on the route .
Gammelstad – Karlsvikshyttans Järnvägsaktiebolag
The concession for the freight train route was applied for on August 10, 1904. The line was built to transport iron ore and charcoal to the new ironworks in Karlsvik near Notviken . Construction began on October 13, 1904. The license was only granted on March 10, 1905. From January 1, 1906 to October 25, 1906, the line under construction belonged to Luleå järnverksaktiebolag (the company that operated the ironworks). From October 26, 1906, the line was transferred to the newly founded Gammelstad – Karlsvikshyttans Järnvägsaktiebolag (GJK). The seat of the joint stock company was in Luleå .
The share capital was 100,000 crowns , the construction costs up to December 31, 1906 300,000 crowns. The line was opened on July 16, 1906. Since the GJK did not procure its own vehicles, the SJ took over the transport services on the line in connection with the operation on the Kiruna – Luleå ore railway .
history
In 1922 the line to Storheden was electrified, in 1923 the catenary was built over the remainder to Karlsvikshyttan. However, during an economic crisis, the ironworks stopped operating on April 7, 1925. The hut was demolished at the end of the 1920s, so that only a few timber companies were served by the railway. These operations like the railway line were now operated by Svenska Cellulosa AB (SCA). However, the route was now unprofitable and was discontinued in 1931. The overhead line was dismantled in 1939.
The route had a new heyday during the Second World War . The section to Karlshäll was built in 1940, and from 1941 until August 1943, trains for the German Wehrmacht used it. German troops and supplies were carried towards Narvik . The route along the Swedish Baltic coast to the north of Norway was safer for the German army than the waterway across the North Atlantic .
After the war, the railway was used to transport prisoners of war . The timber transports were resumed and a new electrification of the route was discussed. This was not carried out, the route was not maintained and the last train left on September 20, 1954. Then it was closed on June 1, 1956, and the line was dismantled in 1957.
During the 1960s the city of Luleå planned a new industrial area in Storheden. For this purpose, the Gammelstad – Karlsvikshyttans Järnvägsaktiebolag (GJK) was transferred to the city in 1962 and the railway line to Karlshäll was rebuilt. In 1967 it was put into operation as a municipal industrial trunk line . Since some of the resident companies no longer used the train as a means of transport a little later, problems with profitability arose again.
Museum train
In the 1980s it was decided to build a railway museum in Karlsvik . In 1984/85 the 1.5 km long line to Karlsvikshyttan was rebuilt. After an initial test on October 26, 1985, museum trains operated by the Malmbanans vänner (MBV) association have been running on the route since June 14, 1986 . The Norrbottens Järnvägsmuseum is one of the largest railway museums in Sweden.
Web links
- Norrbottens Järnvägsmuseum (swedish)
- Gammelstad-Karlsvikshyttan. In: jarnvag.net. Retrieved February 2, 2016 (Swedish).
- History of Gammelstad - Karlsvikshyttans Järnväg AB
- Gammelstad – Karlsvikshyttan. Bandel 19, SJ district V. In: banvakt.se. Retrieved February 2, 2016 (Swedish).
- History of the railway ( Memento of October 14, 1999 in the Internet Archive )
- Timetable 1998 ( Memento of November 10, 1999 in the Internet Archive )
literature
- Gammelstad - Karlsvikshyttans Järnväg, Bertil E. Persson, SJK Förlag, Borås 1982 ( Memento of August 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), ISBN 91-85098-32-9
Individual evidence
- ^ Gammelstad – Karlsvikshyttans järnväg . In: Theodor Westrin (Ed.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 9 : Fruktodling – Gossensass . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1908, Sp. 705 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
- ^ Runeberg: Teknisk Tidskrift 1932