Lemvigbanen

Vemb – Lemvig – Thyborøn Jernbane
Route
Course book range :	93
Route length:	59.5 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Top speed:	75 km / h
Legend 0.0 Thyborøn St. (Thyborøn Havn, since 1924) 0.2 to the harbour (until August 23, 1955) 1.2 Thyborøn Kirke (Thyborøn station, owner since 1924, "Kirke" since 1990) 1.8 Sprogøvej (since March 1982) 2.7 Thyborøn Færge (since June 21, 1971, ferry to Agger ) Harboøre Tange from the Cheminova chemical plant 6.7 Rønland (from August 23, 1955) Knopper (until August 23, 1955) Harboøre Tange Langerhuse (August 4, 1923 to August 23, 1955) (until August 23, 1955) 10.9 Harboøre 13.8 Vrist (station until February 1, 1961, then ticket sales point with loading platform ) (Loading track removed in 1965, since September 1, 1977 Hst.) 16.0 Vejlby North 16.6 Victoria street station (November 13, 1923 to May 1991 as Vejlby Stoppested ) (Requirement stop with stop request disc) 18.0 Beaches 19.7 Nejrup (until September 9, 1900 and from July 1, 1924) 21.9 Klinkby 23.3 Houmaa (until September 1900) 24.7 Balleby (ticket sales point until 1923, loading platform until 1970) 0.0 28.9 Lemvig planned Lemvig – Struer railway line 1.5 Lemvig Havn (museum transport) 31.4 Armose (October 1, 1902 - May 25, 1995 Lomborg ) 33.3 Lomborg (May 1, 1880 - October 1, 1902) 34.3 Bonnet 38.2 ram 43.5 Fåre 45.7 Sinkbæk 48.4 Raakjær (July 1, 1923 - May 15, 1928) 49.0 Bækmarksbro 51.8 Amstrup (since August 1, 1903) 57.1 from Holstebro 57.4 Vemb to Ringkøbing

Lynette railcar, Cheminova factory in the background

MX 26 and Mx 41

Ym 15

Lemvigbanen (German: Lemvigbahn , officially Vemb-Lemvig-Thyborøn Jernbane , VLTJ) is a standard-gauge private railway in northwest Jutland in Denmark . The line is single-track and not electrified.

Lemvigbanen merged with Odderbanen ( Hads-Ning-Herreders Jernbane , HHJ) in May 2008 . The two routes, which are more than 100 kilometers apart, have belonged to Midtjyske Jernbaner A / S since then . Midtjyske Jernbaner's shareholders are Midttrafik , Lemvig Kommune , Holstebro Kommune and a few smaller shareholders.

Route description

At 59.5 kilometers, it is the longest Danish private railway line. It runs from Vemb on the Holstebro - Ringkøbing route via Lemvig to the port of Thyborøn . Between Lemvig and Harboøre , the route runs along the edge of the dunes not far from the coast . Between Harboøre and Thyborøn the track runs on a road through the Limfjord .

Companies

Lemvigbanen was selected by the Danish Hydrogen Innovation & Research Center as the pilot route for the world's first hydrogen- powered passenger trains. From 2010, either the existing railcars with converted drives or completely newly developed vehicles should be used on the VLTJ route. The route was chosen because the number of passengers and the timetable are so low that any operational disruptions would not have a major impact on the timetable. From a technical point of view, the location of the railway was ideal, as the Cheminova chemical plant could generate the hydrogen and the many wind power plants in the area could supply the electricity required. The project was abandoned.

Since the summer of 2008, extensive construction work has been carried out to remove 30 level crossings classified as dangerous. Most of these were unsecured crossings on dirt roads. Several secured level crossings were shut down simultaneously between Lemvig and Vrist, for example at the Balleby and Nejrup stations . For this purpose, bypass roads were built to the nearest level crossing. All remaining secured level crossings were equipped with barrier systems in 2008.

history

At the time of its opening, the railway was Denmark's first small railway and was laid out in a very light construction. The section Vemb - Lemvig was opened on July 20, 1879, the sections Lemvig - Harboøre on July 22, 1899 and Harboøre - Thyborøn on November 1, 1899. The extension to Thyborøn was requested by local fishermen, who exported a lot of fish abroad, especially to Germany, in the years before the First World War . The state subsidized the construction of the line to facilitate the installation of coastal protection structures on the headland off Harboør. The port of Thyborøn was not created until 1915–1918. The two companies VLJ and LTJ merged in 1921 to form VLTJ.

Original route of the Lemvig Railway on Harboøre Tange, is now used as a cycle path

The Harboør – Thyborøn section originally ran in the dunes very close to the sea and was moved one and a half kilometers eastwards on August 23, 1955. It lies on the new protective dike, which was built to protect the Harboøre Tange headland from the sea breaking through. On this part the Green Coastal Road (181) runs parallel to the railway. When the railway line was moved, Knopper station was shut down and the new Rønland station built. With the establishment of the Cheminova chemical plant on Harboøre Tange in 1953, the railway got its most important individual customer by far. Today, as with all Danish railways, freight traffic plays only a subordinate role at the VLTJ. Nevertheless, the track body was replaced and reinforced in the later decades. At the end of the 1990s, platforms, crossing stations and other fixed facilities were overhauled.

The VLTJ has always been considered a very cost-conscious company. Until the end of the 1990s, the so-called “date boxes” (YBM series, originally SJ Y6 ) were still in service. These were Swedish railcars from the 1950s, which after several decades of service were sold by the Swedish Railways to Danish private railways. Although once taken out of service, these rail buses were considered to be very reliable. The relatively modern Lynette multiple units (Danish: lyn = German "Blitz") were only used later on the VLTJ than on other private railways. While all the other Danish private railways switched to new equipment in the meantime, the VLTJ bought some of the other Lynette trains to expand their fleet of cars. The generation change of the vehicles at the VLTJ always took place one step later than at other Danish private railways, with significant cost savings as a result.

Victoria Street Station stop

Route network

Railway stations and stops

In addition to the train stations and stops shown in the route picture, there are the following special features:

• Armose (formerly Lomborg): The breakpoint is three kilometers from the village of Lomborg and was therefore renamed Armose in 1995, the name of the small settlement of houses in question. Occasionally people who were unfamiliar with the area got off here and couldn't find the village from here.
• Victoria street station (formerly Vejlby): The lonely stop was renamed by residents in 1991.
• Vejlby Nord - closed on June 1st, 2009

Unofficial stop

• Thyborøn Færge, at the ferry terminal Thyborøn- Agger

The unofficial stops of the VLTJ, which are not included in the timetable, are unique for the Danish railway system. (However, there are a few special stops on the Danish State Railways , which are only given in the service timetable.) The VLTJ sometimes stops on the open route if necessary. The special procedure is described on a private website as follows: If a passenger wishes, he [the train driver] is happy to stop in the middle of the level crossing so that you can get off directly onto the lane and, if necessary, get into a stopped car.

Branch lines

Lemvig port railway ("Bjergbanen")

From Lemvig train station (33 meters above sea level) the only steep section in Denmark , built in 1891 for freight traffic, leads down to the city's harbor. This is a very steep adhesion track , with the height difference being overcome with a hairpin . On the lower section, the railway runs partly on grooved rails in the road surface, which in Denmark otherwise only takes place on the Helsingør-Hornbæk-Gilleleje Bane . Excursions have been offered since 1991, and since 2014 by the BjergBanen Lemvig association . The port railway is mainly operated during the Danish summer holidays, around six times a day. All freight connections are dismantled today, the track ends in the port station butt without switches. In 2015 the association bought the Fåre station - 10 kilometers south of Lemvig - and would like to store its rolling stock there in addition to a museum in the train station.

Cheminova

The large chemical plant of Cheminova on the Rønland peninsula between Thyborøn and Harboør has its own branch line from the VLTJ main line, which ends in 12–15 parking and loading tracks on the factory site.

Crossing stations

On the northern section of the route, normal train encounters were originally only possible at the terminals in Lemvig and Thyborøn. To increase the frequency on the Lemvig-Thyborøn section, the Harboøre (2004), Strande (2006) and Rønland (completion in mid-2009) stops have been completely rebuilt as meeting stops with a central platform, although in the 2009 timetable only once a day was crossed in Harboøre (15.50 Clock).

In the 1990s there were individual train crossings in Klinkby. For this purpose, an old stump track near the platform was makeshiftly prepared for operation. Since the track only had one switch connection, the train coming from Lemvig had to drive into the stump track after the platform stop and “lock itself in” there. The switch behind the train was manually switched and locked. Now the oncoming (second) train could drive to the platform. After this train had left in the direction of Lemvig, the first train had to reverse out of the siding - back to the platform on the main track. After the driver had manually changed the points again, the journey to Thyborøn could continue. These complicated and very time-consuming train crossings were unique in scheduled Danish rail traffic. At times there were such train crossings in Harboøre station before a real passing track with a central platform was built there in 2004.

To the south of Lemvig, four train stations have their meeting track: Bonnet, Ramme, Fåre and Bækmarksbro. The sidings are not all in good condition, but can be used. However, two passenger trains that meet each other have to go through a process with shunting to and fro, as only one of the two tracks at each station has a platform and some of the platforms are not on the siding. The 2008 timetable avoided train encounters between Lemvig and Vemb as far as possible.

vehicles

passenger traffic

Four two-part DUEWAG type Ym ( Lynette ) railcars are used in the VLTJ for scheduled passenger traffic . Compared to other Danish private railways, the VLTJ got their Lynette railcars very late. The first three trains were delivered to the VLTJ in 1984. In the summer of 2006, the VLTJ bought another two-part railcar from the Nærumbanen inventory . Since then this unit has been on the VLTJ network as Ym 16 / Ys 16 Heden .

A special feature of the VLTJ is the Ym 15 fjords . It is a one-piece Ym railcar that the VLTJ bought from Nærumbanen (Ym 17) in 1999. This vehicle only has an auxiliary coupling and can therefore not be coupled with the other railcars of the VLTJ. Ym 15 the VLTJ originally served as a reserve vehicle, while the three two-part railcars were modernized. The Ym 15 is used in summer as a "mountain railway" between Lemvig train station and Lemvig harbor. Otherwise it serves as an operating reserve. According to workshop staff, the Ym is intended as a test vehicle for a new type of hydrogen drive (see below).

The VLTJ also had two one-piece YBM railcars (YBM 17 and YBM D16), which were used in regular passenger traffic until the 1990s. The railcars were sold in 2007 and are parked at the Struer Jernbaneklub in Struer .

With the 2020 timetable change, the Lynette railcars are to be replaced by new railcars.

Freight transport

Two NOHAB locomotives are available for freight transport at the VLTJ (MX 26 and MY 28). The Mx 26 Tørfisk was bought by DSB in 1993. In 2001, MY 28 Victoria was acquired by DSB. Since the Th. Andels Fiskemelfabrik temporarily caused a higher volume of goods traffic and the Østbanen no longer needed their used MX, the Lemvigbahn rented the MX 41 Kong Hother from the ØSJS . In the meantime the locomotive has been returned.

The VLTJ also has two shunting locomotives. The Frichs-Köf (Köff 21) is available for shunting tasks around the main workshop in Lemvig. The second Frichs-Köf (T 29) is permanently rented as a factory locomotive to the chemical company Cheminova A / S. A third Köf (T27 - bought second-hand from the DB ( Köf II 6349/323 655-1 )) was sold to the Struer Jernbaneklub in Struer in spring 2007.

Vehicle list 2009

• Ym 12 / Ys 12 Storåen (DUEWAG, 86341, Scandia 29874/1983, new to VLTJ)
• Ym 13 / Ys 13 Vigen (DUEWAG, 86342, Scandia 29876/1983, new at VLTJ / 2013 scrapped)
• Ym 14 / Ys 14 Tangen (DUEWAG, 86343, Scandia 29878/1983, new to VLTJ)
• Ym 15 Fjords (Uerdingen 72984/1968, used by Nærumbanen)
• Ym 16 / Ys 16 Heden (DUEWAG / Scandia)
• Ym 39 / Ym 40 cysts (2014)
• T 21 Køf, B-dh (Frichs 1042/1968, Köf II, ex DSB 283 )
• MX 26 (used by Danske Statsbaner, MX 1025)
• MY 28 Victoria (used by Danske Statsbaner, MY 1152),
• T 29 Køf, B-dh (Frichs 863/1966, ex DSB 252 ) since 2004: Lease to Cheminova A / S, Rønland
• MT 51 Rottenwagen for track construction
• MT 52 track construction vehicle

Retired and parked in Struer at the Struer Jernbaneklub:

• YBM D16 (used by Statens Järnvägar , Y7 1252)
• YBM 17 (used by Statens Järnvägar, Y6 997 and Odsherreds Jernbane , S 48)

Timetable

The Lemvig – Thyborøn section has a greater number of passengers than the Vemb – Lemvig section. On weekdays there were eleven pairs of trains on the entire route in the 2012 timetable with crossings in Lemvig, which mostly ran continuously. The railway also operates a number of bus trips between Lemvig and Thyborøn. Two pairs of trains a day (only one on Saturday) continue from Vemb to Holstebro on the state railway line that Arriva usually runs on .

The only customer in freight transport is the Cheminova A / S chemical factory, to which a scheduled pair of freight trains goes. The freight train runs from Rønland to Herning three times a week. In Lemvig, Vemb and Holstebro the train has to change direction. In Herning, the wagons are handed over to DB Schenker Rail Danmark Services (since 2016 DB Cargo Danmark Services ) for onward transportation and the new wagons are taken over for the chemical plant. At times, the fishmeal factory in Thyborøn was a freight customer.

Accidents at level crossings

The Lemvigbahn has a large number of level crossings . Since 2007, the Danish railway authority , BaneDanmark , has been operating the plan to secure or remove unsecured level crossings.

The Lemvigbahn had 80 unsecured level crossings. 20 of the 30 most dangerous crossings have already been closed. The last ten should be eliminated by 2010. Within four to five years, the last 50 crossings should either be closed or provided with light / barrier safety devices.

On September 7, 2009 at 3:26 pm, a train crashed into a car at an unsecured level crossing at Knaresbrovej between Vejlby Nord Station and Victoria Street Station. The two inmates were killed. According to works council member Michael Clemmensen, near collisions are an almost daily problem.

On May 23, 2013 at 3:05 p.m., the YM13 / YS13 crashed into an intersecting slurry tanker at an unsecured level crossing between the Bonnet and Ramme stops, causing one person to be injured. The YM13 / YS13 train unit was so badly damaged that it was not repaired. The unit YM13 / YS13 was replaced by the newly assembled unit YM39 / YM40 (Kysten) from the former inventory of the Odderbane .

In mid-2018 there were still 34 unsecured level crossings.

Lemvig – Struer railway line

A planned Lemvig – Struer railway line was included in the Railway Act of March 20, 1918 , but was not built. In 1999 the VLTJ operated a bus route to Struer with its buses . Since the Lemvig – Struer and Lemvig – Holstebro bus lines offer better connections to the largest cities in the region and to the rest of the transport network, these lines are often preferred to the detour via the VLTJ section Lemvig – Vemb.

Others

The name Tørfisken of the MX26 locomotive is derived from the Danish group Tørfisk , who musically immortalized the Lemvig Railway with the song VLTJ 1985 on the album Stemning . The piece is considered a song with cult status , especially in Midtjylland .

literature

• Richard Latten: From Fehmarn Sound to the North Cape - The Railways in Scandinavia, Volume 1 Denmark, Norway. 1993, Schweers + Wall 1995, ISBN 3-921679-85-0 .
• Tom Lauritsen: Danske lokomotiver og motorvogne . 1997, ISBN 91-7266-141-0 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ New energy source for fuel cell trains. newstix.de, February 26, 2008, accessed on March 22, 2014 . 
2. ↑ About the journey, Lemvigbanen (Danish) ( Memento from October 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) - The Internet questionnaire BiblioteksvAGEN explains: It is absolutely correct that there is a stop at Vejlby Klit, Victoria Street Station called. Originally the stop was called Vejlby. The sign was lost, however, and since the railway administration hesitated too long to get a replacement, local residents took the initiative to hang a new sign on the bus shelter. They renamed the stop - in reference to the famous London train station - in Victoria Street Station , probably because Viktoriavej [vej = street, way] is nearby. The railway administration accepted the name change, and since May 1991 the official name has been Victoria Street Station. ( Biblioteksvagen, June 14, 2008. Archived from the original on July 30, 2012 ; retrieved on October 9, 2015 (Danish).  ) As a curiosity, it is often emphasized that the place names Rome and Paris are in the same area. ( . Visit Lemvig Archived from the original on January 24, 2010 ; accessed on October 9, 2015 (English).  )
3. ↑ With the VLTJ to Thyborøn and back (in Danish), many pictures of the route
4. ↑ Usikrede jernbaneoverkørsler lukket, Danmarks Radio Midt og Vest, May 11, 2009 ( Memento of May 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ To personer dræbt af tog , Ekstra Bladet, 7 September 2009
6. ^ Michael Clemmensen: Lokomotiv-førere: - Et dagligt problem. In: tvmidtvest.dk. September 8, 2009, accessed April 25, 2019 (Danish). 
7. ↑ Tog afsporet på Lemvigbanen , TV2 May 23, 2013
8. ↑ Jernbanen.dk forum May 24, 2013
9. ↑ JENS KIRK PEDERSEN: Family passer på sig selv - men ikke stedkendte overser farlig jernbaneoverkørsel. In: folkebladetlemvig.dk. June 26, 2018, accessed November 4, 2018 (Danish). 

Web links

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

Commons : Hafenbahn Lemvig  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Midtjyske Jernbaner - Lemvigbanen . Official website (Danish)
• Hydrogentrain ( Memento from June 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
• Route network. Archived from the original on October 8, 2010 ; accessed on November 4, 2018 (Danish).