Sundsvall – Torpshammar railway line

Sundsvall – Torpshammar
Route number :	STJ
Route length:	57 km
Gauge :	1067 mm ( cape track )
Operating points and routes
Legend 57 Torpshammar to Norrländska tvärbanan 49 Viscane Ede 39 Kärfsta 34 Loo 25th Nedansjö Hällsjö 17th Vattyom to Matfors / Runsvik 11 Tofva 7th Sizes 1 Sundsvall västra 0 Sundsvall

The Sundsvall – Torpshammar railway was a narrow-gauge Swedish railway line between Sundsvall in Västernorrland County and Torpshammar . She had a track width of 1067 mm and was built by Sundsvalls Järnvägsaktiebolag .

history

Construction and operation

Sundsvalls Järnvägsaktiebolag received the concession for the route Sundsvall Torpshammar (Swedish: Sundsvall Torpshammars Järnväg (STJ)) on January 12, 1872. The route had a length of 57 kilometers. The Sundsvall – Nedansjö – Stöde section was opened to public transport on August 1, 1874, and the remaining part from Stöde to Torpshammar followed on November 11, 1874. The branch line to Matsfors became official in the same year for provisional freight traffic and a year later opened.

Due to the decisions of the Reichstag between 1873 and 1877, Norra stambanan was built to Ånge with standard gauge . Norrländska tvärbanan between Torpshammar and Ånge and on to Östersund and Storlien was also carried out with standard gauge. As a result, the Sundsvall – Torpshammar railway was a narrow-gauge island operation between standard-gauge lines. Torpshammar became a transfer station between the two systems.

On May 31, 1875, STJ had two steam locomotives from the English company Manning Wardle ( Leeds ) and two steam locomotives from the Belgian company Saint Léonard in operation. Later, additional locomotives were acquired from Nydqvist & Holm AB . At the same time, ten passenger cars , ten boxcars and 78 gondolas , including four wooden vehicles, were in use. The first three passenger cars were supplied by Mohögs mekaniska verkstad , the following seven came from Göteborgs mekaniska verkstad . A crane was procured for the station in Nedansjö for freight transport. There, rafted wood was loaded over the Ljungan . When the railway line was opened, wood made up around 2/3 of the goods transported.

The station in Sundsvall consisted of the main building, two sheds for the railway maintenance office and for the express goods warehouse, a separate goods shed and a locomotive shed for three locomotives.

Sale and re-gauging

Due to the island location with the necessity of reloading, the narrow-gauge route formed an obstacle on the route from Norway to the Baltic Sea . Therefore, in 1884, the Reichstag decided to buy the Sundsvalls Järnvägsaktiebolag line , convert it to standard gauge and integrate it into the existing route network operated by Statens Järnvägar . In 1885 the Swedish state bought the route for 3.6 million crowns. The purchase price did not include any vehicles, and the Vattjom – Matfors branch also remained in the possession of Sundsvalls Järnvägsaktiebolag .

The renovation was carried out in sections from May 31 to June 12, 1886. Passenger traffic was maintained during this time, the transfer stations from narrow to standard gauge trains followed the progress made in the direction of Sundsvall. The last narrow-gauge train ran between Sundsvall and Högom on June 11, 1886. From June 12, the SJ could use standard gauge trains on the entire route. With the reconstruction of the route, the buildings in Sundsvall were expanded and the Sundsvall västra station was given a station building.

The tracked route is now part of the Sundsvall – Storlien railway line .

Web links

• Planning documents, timetables and annual accounts from the early days of the route (PDF; 35.8 MB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sundsvall – Vattjom – Torpshammar Smalspår. Bandel 106. In: banvakt.se. Retrieved March 14, 2018 (Swedish). Sundsvall – Vattjom – Torpshammar. Bandel 107, SJ district IV. In: banvakt.se. Retrieved March 14, 2018 (Swedish). Station directory Sundsvall – Torpshammar. In: Historiskt om Svenska Järnvägar. Retrieved March 14, 2018 (Swedish). 
    
    
2. ^ Runeberg, Nordisk familjebok
3. ↑ Järnvägsteknik 3/4 1975 pp. 80–84