Lärbro – Burgsvik railway line

Lärbro – Burgsvik
Route number :	GJ
Gauge :	891 mm ( Swedish 3-foot track )
Maximum slope :	10  ‰
Minimum radius :	300 m
Top speed:	30 km / h
Operating points and routes
Legend 35.5 Larbro 30.9 Othem 23.3 Tingstäde 16.8 Martebo 11.1 Väskinde 4.6 Hate Österport 2.0 Visby Hamn Port connections 0.0 Visby Railway line Visby – Visborgsslätt – Bjärs 7.5 Stora Vede 10.8 Sylfaste 13.5 Ballingbro 18.0 Karby Slite – Roma railway line 20.6 Roma to Klintehamn and Hablingbo 25.0 Viklan 27.4 Bjärges 31.9 Buttle 40.0 Etelhem 46.6 Stånga 52.5 Tjändavre Ronehamn – Hemse railway line 55.5 Hemse 59.1 Alva 63.6 Havdhem 67.9 Grötlingbo 71.6 Fidenäs 78.8 Burgsvik

The Lärbro – Burgsvik railway was a narrow-gauge railway line on the Swedish island of Gotland . It had a track width of 891 millimeters and was built in several sections by Gotlands Järnvägsaktiebolag (GJ).

Route sections

Visby hamn-Hemse

The Visby hamn – Hemse line was the first to be built by Gotlands Järnvägsaktiebolag . The secondary lines to Ronehamn and Klintehamn included in the concession of May 5, 1876, were canceled during a revision. After approval of a government loan of 500,000 SEK on November 14, 1876, construction began in May 1877. The work was completed in September 1878, on September 15 the line between Visby and Hemse was officially opened for freight and passenger traffic by King Oscar II . The route to the port was only operated for goods traffic , it was only opened to public passenger traffic on June 1, 1901. The weight of the installed iron rails was 14.5 kilograms per meter.

As the difference in height between Visby and Visby Hafen stations was 34 meters, a hairpin had to be built. The Visby – Visborgsslätt – Bjärs line began in this hairpin .

Steam locomotives 1 to 3 as well as eight two-axle passenger coaches and 53 two-axle freight wagons were procured for the operation of the line .

The Roma train station was renamed the Roma monastery (or Roma monastery) on January 1, 1952 because of the Roma monastery located there .

Visby – Väskinde

In the early 1890s, CA Sylvan planned to extend the eleven kilometer route from Visby to Väskinde . The cost was estimated at SEK 132,000. The concession was granted on May 1, 1896. The work was started immediately by a consortium and only later transferred to the GJ. The route was opened on November 29, 1896. The weight of the installed rails was 15.2 kilograms per meter.

Väskinde – Tingstäde

The next extension concerned the 13-kilometer section from Väskinde to Tingstäde , which was planned by August Bååth. The concession was granted on June 17, 1898 - on November 29, 1899, goods and passenger services were opened.

Hemse-Havdhem

A continuation from Hemse to Havdhem was investigated during the construction of the line between Väslinde and Tingstäde . The planning was carried out by Johan Danielsson. For this nine-kilometer section, construction costs of around SEK 129,000 were expected. A license was granted on April 7, 1899. The freight was taken on 15 October 1899, the line was for the passenger opened on 26 July 1900's.

Havdhem – Burgsvik

The next extension concerned the southern end of the line - the 15-kilometer section between Havdhem and Burgsvik . N. Victorin calculated the cost without rolling stock at 292,200 SEK. The concession was granted on October 26, 1906 and work on the line began. The official opening was on August 30, 1908, after the first freight trains had already run in October 1907.

Tingstäde – Lärbro

The last line works concerned the northern end: a license was granted for the twelve-kilometer section between the two towns of Tingstäde and Lärbro , but it expired during the First World War . CJ Insulander made new plans in 1919 at a cost of SEK 684,000. The construction work for the new concession, which was granted on January 16, 1920, was carried out under the direction of the State Forestry Administration, which hired unemployed people especially for this purpose. The opening took place on December 17, 1921. The weight of the installed rails was 17.5 kilograms per meter.

The route network had thus grown from 57 to 117 kilometers between 1878 and 1921. The total construction costs amounted to around 2.7 million crowns. In the 1940s there were plans for a further expansion in the north to Fårösund , but these were not implemented.

Sections between Lärbro and Burgsvik

Route section	Commissioning of goods traffic	Commissioning of passenger traffic	length	Setting P-traffic
Visby Hemse	September 10, 1878	September 10, 1878	55 km	September 30, 1960
Visby – Visby hamn	September 10, 1878	June 1, 1901	2 km	September 30, 1960
Visby – Väskinde	November 29, 1896	November 29, 1896	11 km	September 30, 1960
Väskinde – Tingstäde	November 28, 1899	November 28, 1899	13 km	September 30, 1960
Hemse-Havdhem	October 15, 1899	July 26, 1900	9 km	September 30, 1960
Havdhem – Burgsvik	October 1907	August 30, 1908	15 km	September 30, 1960
Tingstäde – Lärbro	December 17, 1921	December 17, 1921	12 km	September 30, 1960

vehicles

Class Z4p locomotives drove the last trains on the line

Due to the increasing volume of traffic and the need to use stronger locomotives , it was necessary to replace the laid rails. Those sections of the line that had iron rails when they were built were converted to steel rails with a weight of 15.2 kilograms per meter as early as the early 1890s .

Before the takeover of the heavier locomotives, the 15 kg rails began to be replaced by 17.5 kg per meter rails and all bridges were strengthened or replaced in 1909. In 1925 the Visby – Roma section received rails weighing 24.8 kilograms per meter.

The most important freight customer on the route was the sugar factory in Roma. In the opening year, 18,397 tons were transported. After two years the volume was 48,005 tons. In 1925 the railway owned 263 two-axle freight cars , 48 of which were covered. With these wagons a transport capacity of 1964 tons was available.

In 1925, the railway had nine two-axle passenger cars and seven with bogies for passenger transport . There were also four passenger cars with a mail compartment . These vehicles had a total of 733 seats in the second and 100 in the first class . In 1910 219,500 passengers were carried, in 1925 there were 200,480 and in 1945 the number rose to 502,611.

Increasing competition on the street also forced rationalization . In 1945 two bogie diesel railcars were bought by Hilding Carlssons Mekaniska Verkstad in Umeå . For this purpose, two bogie trailers were procured. In 1946, the same manufacturer bought two more similar railcars as well as a sidecar for passengers and one for mail and luggage .

Steam locomotives

number	Surname	design type	Wheel alignment	Manufacturer	Construction number / year of construction
1	"WISBY"	Tank locomotive	C.	Nydqvist och Holm , Trollhättan	87/1877
2	"POLHEM"	Tank locomotive	C.	Nydqvist and Holm	88/1877
3	"GOTLAND"	Tank locomotive	C.	Nydqvist and Holm	89/1877
4th	"HEMSE"	Tank locomotive	C 1 '	Nydqvist and Holm	314/1890
5	"ROMA"	Tank locomotive	1 'C	Nydqvist and Holm	406/1894
6th	"FRAMÅT"	Tank locomotive	1 'C	Nydqvist and Holm	483/1897
7th	"TINGSTÄDE"	Tank locomotive	1 'C	Nydqvist and Holm	569/1899
8th	-	Tank locomotive	1 'D 1'	Motala Verkstad , Motala	867/1939
9	"ERNST LEIJER"	Tank locomotive	1 'C	Nydqvist and Holm	682/1902
10	"HOBURGEN"	Tender locomotive	1 'C - 2	Nydqvist and Holm	900/1909
11	"POLHEM"	Tender locomotive	1 'C - 2	Nydqvist and Holm	969/1911
12	"LÄRBRO"	Tender locomotive	2 'C - 3	Nydqvist and Holm	1185/1920

The company was a pioneer in the motorization of narrow-gauge railways. In 1946 two diesel locomotives were ordered for shunting service . Only Stockholm-Roslagens Järnvägar (SRJ) had previously bought such a locomotive. The two locomotives were delivered as prototypes (Urtrucken) in 1948 by the locomotive factory in Kalmar (Kalmar Verkstad) with the serial numbers 62 and 63 only after nationalization as Z4p 248 and 249 (retired 1970 and 1964).

Nationalization and decommissioning

The economic situation deteriorated so much in 1947 that nationalization was seen as the only way to continue operations. On July 1, 1947, Gotlands Järnvägsaktiebolag was transformed into a state company under the same name as Klintehamn-Roma Järnvägsaktiebolag and Slite-Roma Järnvägsaktiebolag . The name was retained until July 1, 1948, when all three railway companies were then taken over into Statens Järnvägar (SJ).

On October 1, 1960, the entire freight traffic was shut down except for a short stretch of the road by the SJ. Between the slaughterhouse outside the city of Visby, freight trains ran to the port station until May 1962. The line between Visby and Lärbro was dismantled except for the slaughterhouse route in June 1961, then the dismantling of the track began from the south in the direction of Burgsvik. Roma monastery was reached in mid-May 1963 and Visby on September 17, 1963. After the slaughterhouse traffic was abandoned, this stretch of road was also torn down by March 1964.

Web links

• Article on FY (swedish)
• Historical description of the railway line at Historiskt om Svenska Järnvägar (swed.)
• Route of the GJ

Individual evidence

1. ^ Association of Central European Railway Administrations (ed.): Station directory of the European railways . (formerly Dr. KOCH's station directory). 52nd edition. Barthol & Co., Berlin-Wilmersdorf 1939.
2. ^ Järnvägshistoriskt Forum