Dannemora – Hargs Järnväg

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Örbyhus-Harg
An ore train from Dannemora arrives at Hargshamn
An ore train from Dannemora arrives at Hargshamn
Route length: 39 km
Gauge : 891 mm, from 1970: 1435 mm
Maximum slope : 12.5 
Minimum radius : 238 m
Operating points and routes
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Stockholm – Sundsvall railway from Gävle
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Orbyhus
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Railway line Stockholm – Sundsvall to Uppsala
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0.0 Dannemora mine Dannemora
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3.6 Osterbybruk
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9.4 Knaby
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Ramhäll (1878-1958)
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29.5 Dead end
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29.4 Lövstabruk
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23.5 Finnsjön
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17.7 Gräsbo
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12.5 Vigelsbo
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11.1 Rörbergsgruvan
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8.2 Kraperås
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5.7 Gubbo
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13.5 Norrmon
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16.6 Vattmyran
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Faringe – Gimo Järnväg von Faringe (1921–1970)
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22.1 Gimo
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24.9 Risinge
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Norrvällen (1917–1955)
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25.75 Ronningen
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30.8 Illersättra
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34.4 Harg
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New line to Hallstavik (since 1977)
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38.5 Hargshamn
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Ferry to Finland (1989–1996)
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54.4 Hallstavik
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Rimbo – Sunds Järnväg by Rimbo (1915–1977)

Dannemora – Hargs Järnväg (DHJ) is a railway line in the Swedish province of Uppsala län (historical landscape Uppland ). The existing line was composed of two sections: an existing since 1874 normalspurigen Zweigstrecke of Örbyhus on the railway line Uppsala Gävle to Dannemora mine and the originally as Danemora-Hargs Järnväg designated Schmalspurbahn of Dannemora to Hargshamn .

The narrow-gauge railway had a gauge of three Swedish feet (891 mm). There were branches from Knaby to Ramhäll, from Norrmon to Lövstabruk and from Risinge to Norrvällen . The original purpose was to connect the iron ore mines in Dannemora and Norrvällen with the ironworks in Österbybruk , Gimo and later Lövstabruk with the port of Hargshamn. From 1926 to 1951, the DHJ was part of the narrow-gauge network of the Stockholm – Roslagens Järnvägar (SRJ), known colloquially as Roslagsbanan . In Gimo there was a connection to the rest of the SRJ network from 1921 onwards to Faringe . Since 1960 only goods traffic has taken place on the route. The most important customers are a paper mill in Hallstavik and, since it reopened in 2012 until March 2015, the Dannemora mine .

In 1961 the two sections were connected to each other at Dannemora and laid between Dannemora and Gimo three- rail track . In 1970 the rest of the line to Hargshamn was converted to standard gauge. In order to ensure the siding of the paper mill in Hallstavik after the planned closure of the narrow-gauge line Rimbo – Hallstavik, a new standard-gauge line from Hargshamn to Hallstavik was opened in 1977 and thus the state of expansion (see route map) was achieved. The route ends in the open a few hundred meters south of Hallstavik.

history

Situation in the 19th century

The Dannemora iron ore mine, which had existed at least since 1532, but probably since the Middle Ages, had become Sweden's most important iron mine in the 19th century. Numerous ironworks for processing the ore into wrought iron had developed in the area. A significant part of both the ore and the wrought iron was exported, which mainly took place via the Baltic port of Hargshamn. The transport there took place with carts overland.

Branch line Örbyhus – Dannemora

In 1872, construction began of the standard gauge railway line Uppsala-Gävle , which is a part of than today Ostkustbanan designated railway line Stockholm-Sundsvall is. From the beginning it was planned to lay a branch line from Örbyhus to the Dannemora mine in order to be able to handle the ore and iron transports via the port of Harnäs southeast of Gävle. In fact, the ore transports from Dannemora began as early as April 1874, six months before the entire line was officially opened.

Dannemora – Hargshamn, Dannemora – Hargs Järnvägsaktiebolag route

The connection to the Uppsala – Gävle line facilitated direct ore exports from Dannemora, but not the supply of the ironworks in the area and the removal of the wrought iron. Therefore, from 1872, plans were drawn up for a narrow-gauge line from Dannemora to Hargshamn, which should include a siding to the Ramhäll iron mine further south . First of all, a railway with the gauge of three Swedish feet (891 millimeters) was planned. For cost reasons, the planned track width was initially reduced to 2.7 feet in 1872. In 1874 the Dannemora – Hargs Järnvägsaktiebolag (DHJ) company was founded. After a new cost calculation, which promised good economic prospects, the track width was finally increased again to three feet. On June 16, 1875, the concession was granted after construction work had already started in May. Freight traffic between Dannemora and Hargshamn began on October 7, 1878. On January 2, 1879, passenger traffic from Dannemora to Hargshamn and goods traffic on the branch line to Ramhäll began at the same time.

Branch line to Norrvällen

In 1913 a concession for a branch line from Risinge to Norrvällen was applied for and granted. This line was completed on May 29, 1917. The most important cargo was wood.

Branch line to Lövstabruk

From June 1918, another branch line was built from Norrmon to Lövstabruk. The first, twelve-kilometer section to Vigselbo was completed in October 1918. The second, 17-kilometer section Vigselbo – Lövstabruk was not completed until May 1, 1925 due to difficult ground conditions. The entire route was officially opened to general traffic on March 1, 1926, according to other sources, not until December 23, 1926. Also The Lövstabruk ironworks were closed in 1926, which meant that the line lost much of its economic importance in the year it was opened. It was then mainly used for timber transport.

Connection to SRJ

On October 1, 1921, the narrow-gauge line from Faringe on the Uppsala – Länna Järnväg (ULJ) to Gimo , which had been under construction since 1917, was put into operation. The line was built by Faringe – Gimo Järnvägsaktiebolag (FGJ), a subsidiary of Stockholm – Roslagens Järnvägar (SRJ). The purpose of this connection was, among other things, to be able to transport iron ore directly on a narrow gauge from the Dannemora mine to the Länna ironworks instead of reloading it in Uppsala as before. From this point in time DHJ and SRJ formed a joint traffic administration.

Takeover by SRJ

On January 1, 1926, SRJ took over the majority of the shares in DRH and converted it into a subsidiary. The SRJ subsidiary FGJ was incorporated into the DRH on January 1, 1935.

nationalization

In the course of the Swedish nationalization of the railway , Dannemora – Hargs Järnvägsaktiebolag was nationalized together with SRJ on July 1, 1951 and incorporated into the state railway company Statens Järnvägar on July 1, 1959 .

Statens Järnvägar saw no future in the operation of the nationalized narrow-gauge lines and therefore began a year after the nationalization with the closure of individual route sections:

date Route section length Type of traffic Remarks
1952 Lövstabruk - Gubbo 14 km Total traffic Dismantled 1956–57
10/15/1953 Dannemora - Österbybruk 3 km passenger traffic Freight traffic still in operation today
1954 Gubbo - Norrmon 6 km Total traffic Dismantled 1956–57
1958 Ramhäll - Knaby 8 kilometers Total traffic Dismantled in 1959
05/29/1958 Österbybruk - Hargshamn 36 km passenger traffic Freight traffic still in operation today
02/01/1960 Faringe - Alunda 18 km Total traffic Dismantled in 1971
02/01/1960 Alunda - Gimo 14 km passenger traffic
07/01/1970 Alunda - Gimo 14 km Total traffic Dismantled in 1972

Conversion to standard gauge

The freight traffic between Dannemora, Gimo and Hargshamn was so important that a shutdown would not have been justifiable. Therefore, in 1961 the standard-gauge siding from Örbyhus near Dannemora was connected to the narrow-gauge line and this was equipped with a three-rail track to Gimo. Until Hargshamn, there was initially still narrow-gauge traffic.

On July 7, 1970, the last narrow-gauge train ran between Gimo and Hargshamn. A few days earlier, the remainder of the Faringe – Gimo line coming from Alunda had already been closed. Then the line was widened to standard gauge and put back into operation on August 3, 1970. In the meantime, the narrow-gauge rail was removed from the three-rail track Dannemora-Gimo. From August 1970 Gimo could only be reached on standard gauge.

The Hallstavik paper mill, which has existed since 1915, provided so much freight traffic that closing the narrow-gauge Rimbo – Hallstavik line was only justifiable if an alternative connection was provided. Therefore, after the DHJ had been re-gauged, SJ agreed with the owner of the paper mill to build a 17-kilometer new standard-gauge line from Hargshamn to Hallstavik. This was put into operation on May 26, 1977. On July 1, 1977 the Hallstavik – Rimbo line was closed.

Train traffic from Hargshamn

Between 1989 and 1996, the Finnlink shipping company carried out rail ferries for freight wagons between Hargshamn and Nystad in Finland. The freight wagons were switched to the Finnish broad gauge in Nystad .

Today's operation

With the closure of the Dannemora iron mine in 1992 and the cessation of rail transport from Hargshamn in 1996, the paper mill in Hallstavik was the only freight transport customer left. For the restart of the iron mine in 2012, the line was renewed and equipped with the ERTMS train control system. Ore trains run regularly between Dannemora and Hargshamn. There is also freight transport from Örbyhus to the paper mill in Hallstavik. All loading points and train stations except for Dannemora, Hargshamn and Hallstavik are closed.

Individual evidence

  1. Dannemora – Knaby – Norrmon – Gimo – Risinge – Hargshamn – Hallstavik. from banvakt.se, Bandel 309. Retrieved March 19, 2014 (Swedish).
  2. Knaby – Ramhäll. according to banvakt.se, Bandel 309: 1. Retrieved March 19, 2014 (Swedish).
  3. Norrmon – Lövstabruk. from banvakt.se, Bandel 311. Retrieved March 19, 2014 (Swedish).
  4. Risinge-Norrvällen. according to banvakt.se, Bandel 309: 2. Retrieved March 19, 2014 (Swedish).
  5. Kraperås lp. banvakt.se, accessed March 14, 2014 (Swedish).
  6. a b c Örbyhus-Hargshamn-Hallstavik. järnväg.net, accessed February 13, 2016 (Swedish).
  7. Dannemora Mineral AB and its subsidiaries, Danemora Magnetit AB, Dannemora Iron Ore AB, and Dannemora Förvaltning AB, was declared bankrupt on March 18, 2015 by Uppsala District Court. Dannemoramineral.se, archived from the original on February 13, 2016 ; accessed on April 7, 2018 (English).
  8. About Dannemora. History. Dannemora mineral AB, archived from the original on November 26, 2013 ; accessed on February 13, 2016 .
  9. Rolf Sten: History UGJ och Dess bibanor. In: Historiskt om Svenska Järnvägar. Retrieved March 15, 2014 (Swedish).
  10. a b c d e f Rolf Sten: Snabbfakta Dannemora - Hargs Järnväg. In: Historiskt om Svenska Järnvägar. May 2, 2012, accessed March 15, 2014 (Swedish).
  11. Rolf Sten: Snabbfakta Faringe - Gimo Järnväg. In: Historiskt om Svenska Järnvägar. November 20, 1999, accessed March 16, 2014 (Swedish).