Nora – Ervalla railway line
| Nora-Ervalla | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Järle station around 1900, NKJ locomotive no.7 with a passenger train
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| Route length: | 17.6 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maximum slope : | 10 ‰ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minimum radius : | 356 m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating points and routes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Nora – Ervalla railway is an approximately 18-kilometer standard-gauge railway in Sweden . It was from Nora-Ervalla järnvägsaktiebolag between Nora city and Ervalla in Orebro Lan built and together with the leg Ervalla- Örebro the Köping-Hult Järnväg opened on 5 March. 1856 The steam locomotive Oscar pulled the train from Örebro. The line is considered to be the first in Sweden to be operated by locomotives.
In 1893 Nora – Karlskoga järnvägsaktiebolag took over the route. This company became part of Nora Bergslags järnvägsaktiebolag in 1905 . The route is now part of the Föreningen Nora Bergslags Veteranjärnväg museum railway .
history
Nora – Ervalla järnvägsaktiebolag was founded in 1851 with the aim of building the Nora – Ervalla line.
Track construction
It took until December 1852 until the construction contract was signed and the work plan was approved by the authorities. In 1853, construction work began. This was supervised from the end of 1853 and in 1854 by the English engineer TC Watson.
In 1854 financial difficulties arose, the railway company had spent all its liquid funds and the credit with the contractor G. Burge, who was supposed to build the Nora – Ervalla railway line, was exhausted. Due to an economic crisis in England there was no way to sell Swedish railway papers there at the time. Therefore, as previously agreed with the board of directors of the railway company, a loan of 150,000 Riksdalers (Rdr.) Had to be taken out to purchase rails, brackets, screws, gears and turntables. The construction company had to procure this material, for this the nominal amount of the preference shares, which the entrepreneur received, was 179,500 Rdr. reduced.
There were no problems with the construction work until October 25, 1855. Then a bridge over Järleån near Järle station, which had been inspected by a state engineer three weeks earlier, had been tested and removed, collapsed. The bridge, which had a wooden superstructure with a span of 110 feet (32.67 m), was supported by two landside substructures made of piles. One of them could not withstand the pressure of the 35-foot-high bank behind him, slid 32 feet forward around the second substructure, swiveled about 90 degrees there and overturned it.
This bridge collapse happened shortly before the provisional commissioning of the route, as it and most of the buildings were completed. Now a temporary bridge had to be built around 20 meters from the collapse site, which the company would take 25,000 Rdr. cost. With this provisional route, the other work on the line could be finished quickly, so that on March 7, 1856 the inaugural train could run from Örebro to Nora and back. The railway was opened for goods on March 17, 1856 and for passengers on June 2 of the same year, whereby a provisional tariff set by the king was applied.
The route had a maximum gradient of ten per thousand and a minimum radius of 356 meters. The rails were made of iron, as U-rails, most of which weighed 28 kg per meter . In an English port in 1855 these cost 6½ pounds per ton. These rails were not developed properly, there were design weaknesses so that they did not last long. At the beginning of the 1860s, the rail swap began, but with the same type of rails. In 1869 it was decided to use Vignole rails , as is the case today, with a meter weight of 23 kg. This replacement lasted until 1881, after which the entire line was converted.
However, the work on the route was not completed after it was opened to public transport. There was a lack of fences, telegraph poles, train stations and other buildings, some earthworks and track laying. The cost of this was almost Rdr 83,000. without taking into account the fixed bridge at Järle instead of the temporary auxiliary bridge. The opening of the first railway line was not very promising, because the Ministry of Finance had to pay 25,000 Rdr. take over because the construction company was bankrupt. This was released from the obligation to complete the construction of the route at its own request. Sundler received another 15,000 Rdr. in preference shares. That wasn't enough to save the company. This went bankrupt and Sundler later ended up as station master in Vårgårda.
The railway company took out a loan on the Rdr 75,000. and completed the rest of the work on my own. Although the work was hampered by lack of funds and regular traffic, the line was inspected on December 11, 1856 and approved with some conditions. This test was carried out by Major CE Norström and Lieutenant M. Grill from Väg- och vattenbyggnadskåren . The final acceptance took place on December 2, 1861, when the construction of the line, with the exception of the Järle Bridge, was completely completed. Work on the bridge began in the spring of 1860. The bridge was built in two fields with superstructures made of iron and a cost of Rdr 83,800. built, about 7,000 Rdr. for adjacent areas. The buildings were constructed at a slow pace from 1860 to 1863. In 1863 the bridge was put into operation.
At the end of the construction period, the 18 kilometer long railway line was divided into six guard sections, each with two guardians. These were subordinate to two railway masters. As Sweden's first locomotive-operated railway, the line was carefully monitored.
Nora train station
At the Nora train station
Järle station
traffic
Traffic on the line was taken over by Köping – Hults järnväg in December 1855 by agreement . In 1856 two trains ran in each direction between Örebro and Nora. This traffic led in 1856 and 1857 to around two thirds of the gross income of the entire route Nora – Ervalla – Örebro, in the years 1858–1874 it was only 40 percent and in the years 1881–1883 the share rose again to 50 percent.
Köping – Hults järnväg was obliged to maintain its own track systems and to pay their employees themselves.
After the opening of Nora – Karlskoga järnväg , traffic on the route between Nora and Ervalla decreased. From 1875 to 1880, only 35 percent of the company's traffic revenues were generated on the route. In 1884 and 1885, operation and maintenance cost around half of total sales. During this time, Nora – Karlskoga järnväg rented the route to Köping – Hults järnväg for initially 38,200 kroner and later for 36,712 kroner per year.
Sweden's first locomotive
Since Köping – Hults järnväg took over the traffic on the Nora – Ervalla line, the Nora – Ervalla järnvägsaktiebolag only acquired one locomotive, the Förstlingen , and a smaller number of gravel wagons. The Förstlingen was the first steam locomotive built in Sweden, and Köping – Hults järnväg imported its locomotives from England.
Employees and operations
14 employees were hired for administrative services and ten for transport operations. The total salary was remuneration of 40 Rdr. estimated per day. An own machine department was not necessary, as Köping – Hults järnväg had taken over the traffic management and therefore no own locomotive, train and workshop personnel was necessary.
In the first few years the company only appointed one station director for Nora station, who independently employed and paid the auxiliary staff required for the service. He had to take care of the acceptance, issue and loading of goods and the handling of the forwarding, to organize the transport of the goods from the goods hall to the wagons and their loading as well as the transport of ore from the pits to the train station.
Sale of the route
The first thought of selling the railway line due to economic difficulties came after the bridge over Järleån collapsed. In 1859, the general assembly decided to instruct the board of directors to submit an inquiry to the king as to whether the line could be taken over into state ownership. However, the answer was negative.
In 1864 the French banker Ch. Daugny asked for the price for the route. In connection with this, it was announced that there were plans to acquire and merge Nora – Ervalla järnvägsaktiebolag , Köping – Hults järnvägar and Gävle – Dala järnvägar . After that, this plan was never taken up again. In 1872 the company decided to offer the route to Vestra Bergslags jernvägsbolag (presumably later Bergslagernas järnvägar ). The plans were unsuccessful.
In mid-1878 the board of directors of Nora-Ervalla järnvägsaktiebolag discussed selling the railway to a buyer no longer known today, possibly Nora-Karlskoga järnvägsaktiebolag . The shareholders' meetings in September 1878 and April 1880 decided to charge a purchase price of 500,000 crowns per mile. This attempt failed.
Nora – Karlskoga järnvägsaktiebolag's business was pretty bad in the early 1880s. The Board of Directors considered it likely that the elimination of competition in freight traffic from Nora to Kristinehamn by Nora – Ervalla järnväg , Köping – Hults järnväg and Statens järnvägar could lead to an improvement. That is why the board of directors of Nora – Karlskoga järnvägsaktiebolag decided in 1883 to buy the railway.
The acquisition took place so quickly that the management board was able to report in 1885 that the last Nora – Ervalla järnväg shares had been redeemed. The purchase price was 680,000 kroner, 500 kroner per share. The official sale took place until October 14, 1893. At that time the share value had risen to 810,000 kroner or 595.59 kroner per share. The company was dissolved on December 31, 1893.
The line belonged to the Nora – Karlskoga järnvägsaktiebolag (NKJ).
Traffic and decommissioning
After the transition from Nora – Karlskoga järnvägsaktiebolag (NKJ) to Nora Bergslags järnvägsaktiebolag (NBsJ) and later to Nora – Bergslags Järnväg (NBJ), freight transport was always the company's most important mainstay. Most of the passengers were carried on the routes between Nora and Ervalla and between Bofors and Strömtorp.
Competition arose from road traffic, which the NBJ countered by streamlining passenger traffic. The trains with passenger carriages were replaced by railcars on several sections in 1942 . As a result, passenger train traffic could be maintained for a number of years. The last locomotive-hauled passenger train ran between Nora and Ervalla in 1960.
At first, passenger traffic on Sundays was no longer considered profitable. That is why it was discontinued in 1961. The operation on the other days was due to the school trains until May 21, 1966. On this day the last passenger train ran on the Nora – Ervalla – Bofors – Otterbäcken line .
On June 11, 1979, freight traffic between Nora and Ervalla ended. Only the gravel pits between Stora Mon and Ervalla were served by freight trains until 1981.
Föreningen Nora Bergslag's Veteran – Järnväg
Föreningen Nora Bergslag's Veteran – Järnväg (NBVJ) was founded on January 20, 1979 in Nora to run a railway museum. The Nora Järnvägsmuseum och Veteranjärnväg (NJOV) , which was founded on December 17, 1981, received it free of charge from Statens Järnvägar , who meanwhile owned the route. The transition took place formally on January 1, 1986. Since then, the route has been available to the museum railway.
Individual evidence
- ↑ to banvakt.se, Bandel 272. Retrieved August 7, 2013 (Swedish).
- ↑ Person graphics läggs ned. Retrieved August 6, 2013 (Swedish).
Web links
- Rolf Sten: Map of the Nora – Ervalla järnväg. In: Historiskt om Svenska Järnvägar. Retrieved August 7, 2013 (Swedish).
- Rolf Sten: History of Nora – Ervalla järnväg. In: Historiskt om Svenska Järnvägar. Retrieved August 7, 2013 (Swedish).