Communication trail Born – Långshyttan

Born – Långshyttan

Långshyttan train station

Route length:

35 km

		Långshyttan
		Långshyttan pier
		Ferry across the Tyllingen , Lången and Bysjön lakes
	0	Rörshyttan
	2	Stjärnsundas Bruk
		Ferry across Lake Grycken
		Silfhytteå
		Ferry through the lock canal and bypassing the lock canal (if required)
		Fullen mooring
		Ferry across the lakes Fullen (also Fyllen ) and Edsken
		Edsken landing stage
		Ängelsfors
		Alternative point
		from Falun
		Born
		Railway line Falun – Gävle to Gävle

The Kommunikationleden Born – Långshyttan ( German : Verkehrsweg Born – Långshyttan ) was a transport link in Sweden . It consisted of several railway lines , which initially operated as a horse-drawn tram, as well as several shipping lines .

prehistory

In the municipality of Husby, southwest of Hofors , the iron industry had been a tradition since the 14th century. North of Långshyttan, pig iron production began on Hienshyttan and south of Stjärnsund , Olof Blå began iron production in Kloster in 1650. The place got its name after the Gudsberga monastery , which existed there from 1477 to 1527. In 1699 the ironworks in Stjärnsund was built by Gabriel Stierncrona and Christopher Polhem . There was an iron hammer , a rolling mill and an iron factory. Polhem ran mechanical workshops and a later famous watch factory.

The Amungen and Lången lakes are connected by the Amungeån. There is a small waterfall on it, the energy of which was used for the Långshyttans Bruk in the second half of the 17th century .

At the turn of the 18th century, Högbo Bruk founded a branch on the north shore of Lake Edsken . At that time, this plant became known for its success in iron production using the Bessemer pear . To the west of it another ironworks, Engelsfors Bruk , was built at the same time . At that time the ore for these huts came from the mines in Vintjärn , Bispberg and Norberg . Transportation was difficult. It took place in winter with horse-drawn carts across the frozen lakes and in summer with a combination of land transport with carts and water transport with boats.

In 1801, the owners of the monastery hut built a blast furnace in honor east of the monastery, and a sheet rolling mill was built for this purpose. In 1805 a forge was added. Långshyttan thus developed into an industrial location. In 1820 a heavy plate mill was built. When ore deposits were found at Lake Rällingen, mining began in the Rällingsberg mine around 1840 . This made the transport routes of the ore considerably shorter. Between 1859 and 1860 a Bessemer plant was built, which at the time was the largest blast furnace in Sweden. Twelve years later the plant was supplemented with an additional blast furnace.

Bessemer pear in Långshyttan

However, in the second half of the 19th century there was a huge structural change in Sweden's iron and steel industry. Many smaller ironworks were closed. As a result, Klosters AB was formed in 1871 , which took over the ironworks Kloster, Långshyttan, Stjärnsund and Engelsfors, the blast furnaces Edsken, Rörshyttan and Silfhytteå and the mining operations Rällingsberg and Villingens kalkbruk. The joint-stock company immediately began rationalization measures and closed the works in Engelsfors that same year.

Communication trail Born – Långshyttan

Part of the rationalization program was to improve the transport routes between the company's individual locations. Due to the prevailing economic situation, the decision was made to use a combined rail and waterway from Långshyttan to Born station on the Falun – Gävle railway line .

The transport route was laid out between 1871 and 1874 and was 35 kilometers long. The rail sections had a gauge of three Swedish feet , thus 891 mm. Boats were purchased for the waterways that were provided with a piece of track so that the small freight wagons could be driven directly on board.

The way began in Långshyttan with a short horse-drawn tram from the industrial area to a pier on Lake Tyllingen. The wagons were brought on board, after which they were shipped across the lake and then through a canal to Lake Lången and on over the Bysjön to Rörshyttan. From there it was transported on a two-kilometer horse-drawn tram to Stjärnsundas Bruk. There the wagons were again placed on barges and shipped across Lake Grycken to the blast furnace in Silfhytteå.

Part of the mined ore was transported on. However, the lake Fyllen following the Grycken had a different water level. A canal with a lock had to be built between the two lakes to compensate for the difference in height. Sometimes the water level was so low that the channel could not be used. In this case, an additional horse-drawn tram line was built to bypass the canal. After crossing the Fyllen, a canal led into Lake Edsken. From the pier there on the north bank, the transport took place again by horse-drawn tram to the train station in Born, where the ore was reloaded onto standard-gauge wagons. The transport of supplies for Långshyttan took place in the opposite direction.

It was soon realized that the six-kilometer stretch between the landing stage at Esken and Born train station was a great effort for the horses. Therefore, in 1880, the OSKAR steam locomotive, manufactured by Kristinehamns Mekaniska Verkstad under construction number 26, was procured with a B1 wheel arrangement, which took over the previous task of the horses. This was followed in 1890 by the C-coupled locomotive No. 2 with the name KLOSTER, built by Nydqvist & Holm in Trollhättan under construction number 303 .

Further rationalization measures made it necessary to close the iron and steel works in Kloster and the rolling mill in Stjärnsund in 1888. The blast furnaces in Rörshyttan and Silfhytteå had been closed years earlier. The Edsken blast furnace followed around 1890. The joint-stock company concentrated on the ore mine in Rällingsberg and the smelting works in Långshyttan and Stjärnsund. In 1892 a new company, Rällingsbergs Grufv AB , was founded for the ore mine . Långshyttan and Stjärnsund were the main towns in the industrial region.

New transport routes

The communication leden turned out to be a problem. The capacity was too small. It could not be used in winter when there was ice. After the abovementioned operations were closed, a better way of connecting Långshyttan and Stjärnsund to the Swedish rail network was sought.

A new line was planned with a gauge of 891 mm from Långshyttan via Stjärnsund to Byvalla on the Norra Stambanan . Since this route was only intended to be used for internal freight transport, no license was applied for for the time being. Construction work began in May 1889. The terrain was simple, and so the eleven-kilometer section between Långshyttan and Stjärnsund was provisionally put into operation in May 1891. On December 1, 1891, the entire Byvalla – Långshyttan railway was opened for private freight traffic.

Only a short time later, after pressure from the public, an application for a concession for public transport was made. The permit for general goods and passenger traffic was granted on March 27, 1893. After necessary adjustments and the procurement of passenger cars, general traffic on the new route was opened on June 1, 1893. The construction costs were around 450,000 crowns .

Task of the communication lead

After the new railway line was opened, the shipping routes were abandoned in 1891. Locomotive No. 2 ( KLOSTER ) took over the first trains on the new route, but was later only used in shunting traffic. The machine was preserved and is now a memorial in Långshyttan.

The approximately seven kilometer long section between Born and Engelsfors (Ängelsfors) on Lake Edsken was operated for a while.

The lock at Silvhytteå is still in operation today and has a lifting height of three meters. It can accommodate boats with a length of 20 meters, a width of 3.8 meters and a draft of 80 centimeters.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b after Banvakt.se Bandel 207_1

↑ Photo of the KLOSTER locomotive

↑ Lock at Silvhytteå (Sweden). Archived from the original on October 21, 2002 ; accessed on October 17, 2015 .

[bandel-1] ter Banvakt.se Bandel 207_1