Silverhöjden – Mossgruvan railway line

Silverhöjden – Mossgruvan
Route length:	12.5 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	Silverhöjden-Kisstjärnsbäcken-Vinteråsen Kisstjärnsbäcken-Bastkärn 15 kV 16 2 / 3 Hz  ~
Legend from Grängesberg 0.0 Silverhöjden to Ställdalen 1.5 Backgruvan (from 1947 Bastkärn) 2.6 0.0 Kisstjärnsbäcken Kisstjärn 3.0 Mossgruvan 8.0 0.0 Högfors bruk (Segerfors or Vinteråsen)

The Silverhöjden – Mossgruvan railway was a standard-gauge Swedish railway line .

Högfors Järnväg

The railway line from Silverhöjden to Högfors bruk was built between 1902 and 1903. A route to Bastkärnsgruvan branched off from the Kisstjärnsbäcken station in between. The line was mainly used for freight traffic, which in Silverhöjden was transferred to the Frövi – Ludvika line of Frövi – Ludvika Järnväg (FLJ).

Traffic was opened in 1903 with a newly acquired steam locomotive . After that only one locomotive was bought by the company.

vehicles

Steam locomotives

number	Surname	design type	Wheel alignment	Manufacturer	Fabr.-No./ year of construction	Special
1	HÖGFORS	Tank locomotive	C.	Manning, Wardle & Co , England	1546/ 1902	1917 to Näs-Horndals Järnväg , number 5 there .
		Tank locomotive	C.	Sharp, Stewart & Co , Manchester	2376/ 1874	Used in 1913 as no. 9 by Frövi – Ludvika Järnväg (FLJ), 1919 to Näs – Horndals Järnväg , there number 3 , retired in 1930.

Silverhöjden – Mossgruvans transportaktiebolag

The Silverhöjden-Mossgruvans transportaktiebolag was founded in 1918 with the goal of the eight-kilometer stretch of the Högfors Järnväg including the branch line to Bastkärnsgruvan to acquire. One of the largest shareholders in the new stock corporation was Trafikaktiebolaget Grängesberg-Oxelösund (TGO), which subscribed to shares for 150,000 kroner .

After the previous railway facilities were acquired in 1919, the three-kilometer branch line to Mossgruvan was built in the same year - the line was called Silverhöjden – Mossgruvans Järnväg . From then on, operations on the line were transferred to Frövi – Ludvika Järnväg (FLJ), which later became part of the Trafikaktiebolaget Grängesberg – Oxelösunds Järnvägar (TGOJ).

In 1925 Oxelösund-Flen Västmanlands Järnväg bought shares in Silverhöjden - Mossgruvans transportaktiebolag , which indirectly owned four fifths of the company to TGOJ.

Operating points

• Silverhöjden: Branch station on the Ludvika - Vanneboda line . The station was called Hörk until 1908. In 1960 a loading ramp was built so that the iron ore could be tipped directly from the truck into the freight wagons .
• Backgruvan (from 1947 Bastkärn): loading area with two tracks and a detour. The ore was loaded with the help of a conveyor belt system .
• Kisstjärnsbäcken: junction with bypass option .
• Kisstjärn: loading point on the open road. The loading point was behind the last switch at the Kisstjärnsbäcken junction. There, the empty ore wagons from the freight train from Högfors were parked on the route before continuing to Silverhöjden. The loaded wagons - bismuth ore from Långblågruvan and iron ore from the sorting facility of Fäbohöjdsgruvan - were then rolled off to Kisstjärnsbäcken by the local staff using the handbrake.
• Högfors bruk, from January 15, 1920 Segerfors and from June 1, 1922 Vinteråsen: operating center of Högfors Järnväg and Silverhöjden – Mossgruvans Järnväg . The locomotive shed stood here for two smaller steam locomotives, there was a turntable , a water crane and other locomotive treatment systems. The station was responsible for all operations on the route. A foundry was also connected, but it burned down in 1955. This was not rebuilt. Most of the ore for this foundry used to come from the Sköttgruvan and was transported by cable car. After that, until the first line was closed, the ore was also delivered by truck and reloaded here onto the train.
• Mossgruvan: loading area with bypass possibility. Manganese-containing iron ore was loaded from the Mossgruvan.

Decommissioning, rebuilding and renewed decommissioning

In 1935 the traffic between Vinteråsen and Mossgruvan and between Kisstjärnsbäcken and Backgruvan was stopped after the ore mining ended. Both parts of the route were dismantled. The story of Silverhöjden - Mossgruvans transportaktiebolag - ended in 1936 with the sale of the remaining route between Silverhöjden and Vinteråsen to TGOJ .

During the Second World War , ore mining was resumed in the Backgruvan. Since the railway line was dismantled, the iron ore was transported to Silverhöjden by cable car. After the ore production increased further, the TGOJ decided to relocate the line on the old embankment. From June 1949 ore trains ran again on the route from Bastkärn to Silverhöjden. Since the TGOJ electrified its main line between Grängesberg and Frövi in ​​1956, the branch line to Vinteråsen and Bastkärn was also provided with overhead lines.

The last train from Vinteråsen to Kisstjärnsbäcken ran in September 1961, in 1962 the tracks on this section were dismantled. Freight trains ran between Bastkärn, Kisstjärnsbäcken and Silverhöjden until September 1979. The Bastkärn loading area was officially closed on June 16, 1980, and the tracks were removed until 1987.

Passenger train traffic

Högfors was the only station with passenger trains. A class CG passenger car was available for this purpose. The Högfors Järnväg drove from start of operations until 1918 daily two pairs of trains. From 1919 the pair of passenger trains only ran once. First an old passenger car with wooden benches was used, later a class F4 car. The train route, in which general cargo was also transported, traveled the Kopparberg –Högfors (or Segerfors / Vinteråsen) route and back. A class F, F1 or Gm wagon normally ran between Kopparberg and Mossgruvan for general cargo.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Silverhöjden-Mossgruvan. Bandel 257: 1. In: banvakt.se. Retrieved October 13, 2013 (Swedish). 
2. ↑ Historiskt om Svenska Järnvägar (Swedish)
3. ^ Vehicles of the FLJ

Web links

• Historiskt om Svenska Järnvägar (swed.)