Himmerlandsbanerne

Himmerlandsbanerne
Aalestrup, in the foreground the bridge over Simested Å
Himmerlandsbanerne
Course book range :	Løgstør – Hobro: 51 Aalestrup – Viborg: 52
Route length:	103.8 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Top speed:	from 1953: 70 km / h
Operating points and routes
Løgstør – Hobro
Legend 42.0 Løgstør 34.0 Vindblæs (from 1960 breakpoint) 27.5 Gatten (signaling technology out of service from 1928/29, stopping point from 1960) 26.1 Øjesø (1933–1934 or 1950) 22.4 Hornum (formerly "Ulstrup", signaling technology out of operation from March 1st, 1963) Aalborg – Hvalpsund railway from Aalborg 15.0 Aars Aalborg – Hvalpsund railway to Hvalpsund 8.0 Østrup 3.3 Østerbølle (ticket office, stop from 1960) 0.0 24.2 Eelestrup to Viborg 20.0 Simested (from June 1960 breakpoint) 17.3 Boldrup (only 1925/26) 15.2 Nørager 12.5 Grynderup (from 1932) 10.4 Rørbæk (ticket sales point, stop from 1960, "Store-Rørbæk" from 1965 ) 7.6 Døstrup (after 1920 "Døstrup Himmerland" , from 1960 breakpoint) Døstrup Grusgrav, until the late 1930s Randers – Aalborg railway from Aalborg 0.0 Hobro Hobro Havnebane Randers – Aalborg railway to Randers
Aalestrup – Viborg
Legend from Løgstør 0.0 37.6 Eelestrup after Hobro 32.9 Hvam 27.1 Møldrup 24.5 Nørdam (from 1925) 21.5 Skringstrup (ticket office, later stop) 17.6 Scals 15.7 Nederhede (1929–1930 or 1932) Skals Aa (Klynte dyp) 14.0 Kølsen (ticket office, later stop) Connection to the clay pit, from 1906 11.7 Hjarbæk (from 1928) Project "Hjarbæk Havnebane", 1916, not carried out 10.0 Løgstrup 4.1 Margrethelund (1922–1955) Route from the opening to December 1, 1896 Routing from December 1, 1896 Langå – Struer railway from Struer (from December 1, 1896) 0.0 Viborg (from December 1, 1896) 0.0 Viborg old train station Langå – Struer railway from Struer (until December 1, 1896) Railway line Langå – Struer to Langå Herning-Viborg banen to Herning and Mariager-Faarup-Viborg Jernbane to Mariager

As Himmerlandsbanerne two railway lines were in Denmark Himmerland in today's North Jutland referred to in Aalestrup were connected. The routes led to Løgstør , Viborg and Hobro . It was a state railway - and a private railway line .

history

As in many other places in Denmark, there has been a longstanding debate about the construction of the railway lines in Himmerland. The first plans for a route between Hobro and Løgstør were made in 1866. One of the reasons for the long discussions was the question of the starting point the route should have. In this case it was Hobro and Viborg who chose Løgstør.

In 1875 a committee made up of representatives of the communities representing the area was appointed. The eleven people decided to recommend two routes to the two cities, with the node in Aalestrup. Års was also suggested. The discussions lasted ten years, the first official proposal was made in the parliamentary period 1885/86. The political struggles between Højre, who sided with the bourgeoisie, and Venstre, who supported the farmers, also brought delays. In addition, the lines were to be built together with the Slagelse – Næstved and Dalmose – Skælskør railway lines.

The Hobro – Aalestrup – Løgstør state railway was built on the basis of the Railway Act No. 54 of April 12, 1889. With the same law, the district of Viborg ( Danish Viborg amtsråd ) got a concession for a private railway between Viborg and Aalestrup on May 28, 1890 . Shortly afterwards, this was rented to Danske Statsbaner , who built and operated both lines as a unit.

The state railway was estimated at 290,000 crowns per mile . Interested communities were able to participate with 50,000 crowns. The price for the private railway line was 80,000 crowns per mile, of which the state paid half of the expropriation costs. Construction work began with the unplugging of the line in early 1890, after which the earthworks could begin in March 1891. Completion was planned for October 1892.

The state railway line between Hobro and Løgstør went into operation on July 15, 1893, the private line between Viborg and Aalestrup followed on September 15, 1893.

Route data

The total length of the route was 103.8 km. First rails with a meter weight of 22.5 kg / m were used. Between 1942 and 1952, the conversion took place with used rails with a meter weight between 32 and 45 kg / m. The maximum speed at the opening was 45 km / h, during the German occupation in Denmark on the sections Rørbæk – Aalestrup, Viborg – Nørdam and Aalestrup – Gatten only 30 km / h due to defects in the superstructure and after the renovation from 1953 70 km / h.

Hobro – Løgstør railway line

The 66.2 km long route was opened on July 15, 1893. Passenger traffic was carried out until May 22, 1966.

Passenger traffic ended in 1966 and freight trains ran until 1999.

Hobro – Aalestrup section

On July 1, 1968, parts of the Hobro – Aalestrup railway, on which the last train ran in 1969, began to be sold.

The station buildings in Døstrup, Rørbæk, Nørager, Simested and Aalestrup are still on the former route. About six kilometers remain from the former 24 km long embankment. The bridge over Simested Å still exists in terms of structures.

Aalestrup – Løgstør section

The route distance was measured from Hobro. In Aalestrup there was a two- room engine shed and a turntable , as was the case in Løgstør.

Freight traffic on the Aalestrup – Løgstør section was discontinued in 1999.

The station buildings in Østerbølle, Østrup, Hornum, Gatten, Vindblæs and Løgstør are still there. From the embankment of the 42 km long route, only around 400 meters are no longer available in the city center of Aars. There the Himmerlandsstien uses public roads. There is also a bridge over the Herredsbæk S near Aars.

Viborg – Aalestrup railway line

The 33.6 km long Margrethelund – Aalestrup section was opened on September 15, 1893, the four km long Viborg – Margrethelund section followed on December 1, 1896.

The Viborg – Aalestrup line was a state railway, as was confirmed again by Law No. 164 of May 27, 1959. With the same law the DSB was authorized to stop the traffic. Passenger traffic was shut down with immediate effect on May 30, 1959, and freight traffic continued.

With the closure of the Mariagerbane in 1966, Viborg lost its port railway, so that it had to evade to Løgstør, where the line led to the harbor. Since the Viborg – Løgstør section was now occupied with more freight trains, all stops and some of the stations were closed. In addition to the terminal stations, the expeditions in Aalestrup, Aars and Hornum and the freight train loading points for wagon loads in Løgstrup, Skals and Møldrup remained. At the beginning of the 1980s, five to seven trolleys had to be delivered every day. However, continued operation with an axle load of 16 t was problematic: on August 19, 1986, due to the poor condition, five freight cars south of Løgstør derailed.

At the end of June 1996 DSB closed the traffic on Løgstørbane . In the previous two months, only ten to twelve cars were transported. From April 1997 to 1999 Privatbanen Sønderjylland tried to carry out traffic activities on the route, which had to be abandoned in the summer of 1999. In the same year rail bicycles operated on the Løgstør – Skals section , which were rented out by the tourist office in Viborg.

The former station buildings in Løgstrup, Skals, Skringstrup, Møldrup and Hvam are still there. The embankment of the 37 km long section has been preserved, 36 km of which are used by the Himmerlandsstien . The planum is only built over in the industrial area on Vestermarksvej in Viborg.

Junction and end stations

Eelestrup

Aalestrup was only a small settlement in Østerbølle Sogn in 1893 . It did not get its own church until 1908 and in the mid-1930s it became an independent parish. The decision to place the junction of the routes here was decisive for the further development of the place. Among other things, the city already had a secondary school in the early 1900s , which was easily accessible by rail connections from three directions in a large catchment area.

The place is roughly on the direct line between Viborg and Aars. The route via Hobro with a detour via Aalestrup and not the direct route to Aars was good for urban development. Aalestrup became Vesthimmerland's most important railway junction. The Hobro – Aalestrup route was not only part of the route to Løgstør, but was also part of an alternative route to Viborg. DSB used this route for freight traffic between North Jutland and West Jutland, which according to the Railway Act had to be transported by the shortest route. The Hobro – Aalestrup – Viborg route was 23.2 km shorter than the route via Hobro – Randers – Viborg. However, the trains in Hobro, Viborg and Aalestrup had to change their direction.

In 1955 the station was equipped with new security systems, electrically operated switches and daylight signals. This meant that the trains from Løgstør could only use platform 1, those from Viborg only use platform 2 and those from Hobro only use platform 3.

Hobro

In Hobro, the Aalestrupbane led to a substantial expansion of the station and a few years later to the construction of a new station building.

Viborg

The first station in Viborg was a terminal station at the southeast end of Søndersø. The city was satisfied with the location of the station and only the construction of the Aalestrupbane gave rise to relocating the station to the Trekroner hill in the south-west of the city. In 1893 there was still no consensus on the exact location, so Aalestrupbane received a temporary connection with the Skivebane four kilometers away at the Møgelkjær farm. The uncertainty about the location of the train station in Viborg explains why Aalestrup and not Viborg were calculated at that time. On December 1, 1896, the new station was completed and the Aalestrupbane was connected to a line that branched off from the temporary line south of Margrethelund. The two-kilometer stretch between Møgelkjær and Margrethelund was used for around three years and is entered in the measuring table from 1842 to 1899.

Further rail projects

With the Railway Act of March 20, 1918 , further railway projects were published in Himmerland:

• Aars – Arden – Øster Hurup railway line
• Sebbersund – Løgstør – Overlade railway line
• Aalborg – Nørager
• Railway Skelund – Als – Øster Hurup

Like most of the other items in the Railway Act of 1918, these projects were not carried out.

Decommissioning costs

The cost of closing the Viborg – Løgstør line was estimated at 12.5 million crowns. Proceeds of 4.5 million kroner were expected from the sale of the facilities, including the scrap value, so that the net cost of closing the line would be eight million kroner.

traffic

Although the Viborg – Aalestrup section was planned as a branch line to the Hobro – Løgstør connection, this was not significant in terms of traffic. During the day there were trains to Hobro and trains to Viborg. A shorter part drove to Løgstør, the other part turned in Aalestrup. After the Herning – Viborg banen was put into operation in 1906, joint traffic was carried out on this section, so that there were direct connections between Herning and Aalestrup.

The state railways bought eight steam locomotives of the type J , No. 13-20, and a shunter of the type Hs , but did not use these new machines here. Instead, locomotives of types B , H and G were used on these routes, and at times the L series .

Of the five DJs retired between 1903 and 1904 , three locomotives were stationed in Viborg after modifications. One of them was used as a shunting engine, the other two drove all trains on the route between Hobro and Aalestrup. A T machine was stationed in Viborg between 1926 and 1930 and was occasionally used on the line.

The type J locomotives originally procured for the route were only on the route between 1941 and 1951. Several of them were based in Viborg.

With the increasing motorization of the branch lines in the late 1920s and early 1930s, railcars from the manufacturer Triangel of the ME (I) series took over passenger transport. After the Second World War , passenger traffic was carried out entirely by the MP series railcars . In the mid-1950s, the type J steam locomotives were replaced by those of the type D. When the MT series diesel locomotives were delivered in 1958, they took over all the tasks previously performed by steam locomotives on the routes.

After the war, the Aalestrup depot was closed. Then the railcars were used from Randers . The locomotive shed in Aalestrup was used to park the shunting locomotive.

At the beginning of the 1950s, MO railcars of the 500 series that had not been converted were used. Soon afterwards, the MP railcars came back when they became superfluous on Fyn . These were in turn followed by the MO vehicles, but this time the modernized version of the 1800 series, which were built in the 1950s.

On May 15, 1966, the MO 1839 was the last scheduled passenger train on the route.

Diesel locomotives of the MT and MH series drove the remaining freight trains until the route was finally closed .

Current condition

The route was expanded in 2006 to a cycle and hiking trail, the Himmerlandsstien . The embankment was made five meters wide and given a smooth surface. Banedanmark set up rest areas in connection with the nature trail at ten locations - Løgstrup, Skals, Skringstrup, Møldrup, Hvamm, Østerbølle, Østrup, Hörnum, Gatten and Vindblæs . At the end of 2013, the last two kilometers of the ski bar were removed so that the Himmerlandsstien could be extended to Viborg.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Nordjyllands Jernbaner: Himmerlandsbanerne. Retrieved January 7, 2015 (Danish). 
2. ↑ Different sources: Nordjyllands Jernbaner: until 1934, EPP until 1950
3. ↑ Different sources: Nordjyllands Jernbaner: only 1925, EPP only 1926
4. ↑ Different sources: Nordjyllands Jernbaner: stopping point closed in 1957, EVP: ticket sales point converted into stopping point in 1957
5. ↑ Different sources: Nordjyllands Jernbaner: Closing three years after opening, EPP. Closing in 1930
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Lov om ændring af lov om nedlæggelse af statsbanestrækningerne (statsbanerne) Hobro-Løgstør. October 6, 2004, accessed January 13, 2015 (Danish). 
7. ↑ Thorning Christiansen: Baneforlægning Viborg-Sparkær. (PDF) In: Vingehjulet, 1. Aargang, No. 4. Danske Statsbaners Blad, November 24, 1943, archived from the original on January 8, 2015 ; Retrieved January 23, 2015 (Danish). 
8. ↑ Himmerlandsstien. (PDF) Regional cykelrute 35. 2006, accessed on 7 January 2015 (Danish). 

Web links

Commons : Himmerlandsbanerne  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Ole L. Nielsen: Himmerlandsbanerne. 40 år i dødskramper , Viborg-Løgstør godsbanen 1959-99. Erik V. Pedersen, accessed September 3, 2018 (published in "Togfløjten", No. 2, 2006). 
• A. Gregersen: Himmerlandsbanerne. (PDF) In: Signalposten , No. 2 May 1971, pp. 116–120 , accessed on September 3, 2018 (Danish). 
• A. Gregersen: Himmerlandsbanerne. (PDF) In: Signalposten , No. 6 December 1971, pp. 221–231 , accessed on September 3, 2018 (Danish).