Slite – Roma railway line

Slite – Roma
Museum operation at Hesselby station
Route number :	SIRJ
Route length:	33 km
Gauge :	891 mm ( Swedish 3-foot track )
Maximum slope :	10  ‰
Minimum radius :	300 m
Top speed:	30 km / h
Operating points and routes
Legend Route from Burgsvik Route from Klintehamn 0.0 Roma Route to Visby - 6.5 Roma (only station of the museum railway) - 5.4 Roma Kungsgård - 3.3 Kambshagtorp (only station of the museum railway) 3.6 2.8 Thule Connection to the gravel pit - 2.1 Nygårds (only the museum train station) - 1.2 Munkebos (only station of the museum railway) - 0.7 Eken (only station of the museum railway) 6.4 0 Hässelby (formerly Gotland's Hässelby) 8.9 Dune 12.8 Simunde 15.3 Colds 17.4 Larsarve 19.8 Bål 22.7 Gane 29.1 Bow 33.0 Slite

The Slite – Roma (SlRJ) railway was a narrow-gauge railway line on the Swedish island of Gotland . It had a track width of 891 millimeters.

history

The Slite - Roma line was built under the direction of E. Anderson by Slite-Roma Järnvägsaktiebolag . Traffic began on May 15, 1902. There was also a concession for the Slite– Lärbro line , but this section was no longer built due to the poor economic situation after the First World War . The largest stop on the route was Gotlands Hässelby (now Hässelby).

Steel rails weighing 15.2 kilograms per meter were laid along the route. First two steam locomotives were procured for operation, and in 1920 another was bought.

Steam locomotives

number	Surname	design type	Wheel alignment	Manufacturer	Construction year	Whereabouts
1	SLITE	Tank locomotive	C.	Karlstads Mekaniska Werkstad , Kristinehamn	1900
2	QUALITY	Tank locomotive	C.	Karlstads Mekaniska Werkstad, Kristinehamn	1901
3	DAHLHEM	Tank locomotive	1 'D	Henschel & Son	1920	Gotlands Hesselby Järnväg Museum Railway

In addition, the company bought two bogie passenger cars from the BCo series, a two-axle mail car and 47 two-axle freight cars . The costs for tracks and vehicles amounted to 778,380 crowns . Over time, the rolling stock was added: In 1908 a two-axle passenger car with a mail compartment from the BCD series was added. With the purchase of the third steam locomotive in 1920, two baggage cars came onto the line.

The Slite – Roma Järnvägsaktiebolag pursued a joint operating strategy with the Klintehamn-Roma Järnvägsaktiebolag , which operated the Klintehamn – Roma railway line , from January 1, 1927 under the name Trafikförvaltningen Slite – Klintehamn . This agreement lasted until 1940 and was then dissolved.

The Second World War had a decisive influence on all railways on Gotland. From 1945 the railway modernized its passenger traffic and rented a railcar manufactured by Hilding Carlssons Mekaniska Verkstad in Umeå on a trial basis from Klintehamn-Roma Järnvägsaktiebolag for various days of the week . However, since the tracks were worn out by the high traffic during the war and the passenger traffic decreased, the sales revenues quickly decreased.

In 1946 the SlRJ ordered a motor car and a sidecar from Hilding Carlssons, but these were no longer delivered before the nationalization in 1947.

Nationalization and decommissioning

On July 1, 1947, Slite-Roma Järnvägsaktiebolag was nationalized and from that point on it formed a state company with the same name. On July 1, 1948, the SlRJ was integrated into the SJ . Between 1947 and 1952, almost all of the track and vehicle maintenance was concentrated in Visby .

All traffic on the section between Slite and Boge was stopped on June 10, 1953. At the same time the general traffic on the remaining section Boge-Roma ended. However, freight traffic was operated sporadically on this route until 1955.

The line between Slite and Boge was dismantled in 1953 immediately after it was closed. The rest of the route between Boge and Roma followed until 1958.

Gotlands Hesselby Jernväg

A GHJ train is ready to depart from Hesselby station

Gotlands Hesselby Jernväg (GHJ) is a museum railway on the Swedish island of Gotland. The Föreningen Gotlandståget operates the historical museum train on a newly built track part of the track railway line Slite Roma, some with steam locomotive and wagons off the Gotland railway era. The completely newly built 1.3-kilometer line initially led from Hesselby station in Dalhem via the Eken stop to the Munkebos stop. The extension of the line to a length of six kilometers to Roma was completed in 2015.

The first train on the new route between Hesselby and Eken ran in 1978 to mark the centenary of the railways on Gotland. In 2007 the Eken – Munkebos section was opened. In Hesselby, the station and the goods shed as well as a workshop have been renovated, there are two car sheds and a turntable . In the Gotländska Lantmännens Centralförening warehouse from 1939 there is a railway museum , which shows the history of the railways on Gotland.

In 2009, the tracks of the Tule train station were rebuilt, and the train station building, a stable building and a laundry room were also refurbished. In 2010, one section each followed to Kambshagetorp (towards Roma) and Stall Dalhem (towards Munkebos). This expansion took place within the framework of the " Leader Gotland" project funded by the European Union . On April 17, 2012, the SJ Z4p 397 locomotive was brought to Thule on a low-loader , along with other freight wagons. The first locomotive on this section since 1958 was now able to transport the ballast from the gravel pit with the freight train to the further expansion of the line on the construction site located on the island. On May 5, 2013, the two sections of the route were connected, and since then the museum trains have been running continuously on 3.5 kilometers between Hesselby and Thule.

The route to the new Roma train station was completed as planned in 2015 and has been on schedule since the summer timetable from June 24, 2015.

literature

John Kvarnstedt: Gotlands Järnvägar. Svenska Järnvägsföreningen 50-år . Reich Archives, 1926, Swedish Railway Statistics and Railway Data.

Web links

• Hesselby Roma. In: jarnvag.net. Retrieved February 2, 2015 (Swedish). 
• Historical description of the railway line at Historiskt om Svenska Järnvägar (swed.)
• Gotlands Hesselby Jernväg (swed.)
• Projects by Leader Gotland

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. ^ Bahnbau 2012 ( Memento from July 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ ^{a b} Åka tåg är skoj för stora och små! Föreningen Gotlandståget, accessed August 29, 2018 (Swedish). 
4. ↑ Tidtabell gällande sommaren 2015. Archived from the original on July 13, 2015 ; Retrieved August 29, 2018 (Swedish).