Thisted – Fjerritslev railway line

Thisted-Fjerritslev
Thisted-Fjerritslev Jernbane
Thisted-Fjerritslev Jernbane
Route length:	54.2 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend Fjerritslev – Frederikshavn railway from Aalborg 54.2 Fjerritslev 51.7 Gøttrup 48.5 Klim 45.5 Thorup 43.9 Thorup Kær (since May 17, 1953) 42.4 Vust Kærup Holme (since May 1, 1932) 38.6 Kærup 37.0 Frøstrup 35.5 Langvad (since May 15, 1928) 34.0 Tømmerby 30.8 Vesløs 26.6 Tovsig 22.9 Østerild 20.5 Hunstrup 17.6 Tanggaard 15.4 Kaastrup (since May 15, 1931) 14.2 Hillerslev 12.0 Lille Hillerslev (from May 15, 1931 to around 1950) planned railway line Nors – Hanstholm from Hanstholm 10.7 Nors 8.2 Havreland (since May 15, 1928) 6.1 Vandet 3.8 Baun (since August 1, 1908) 2.6 Thorstedvej (since around 1960) Thybanen from Struer 1.8 Landlyst Thisted Havnebane 0.0 Thisted

The Thisted – Fjerritslev (TFJ) railway was a Danish private standard - gauge single - track railway between Thisted and Fjerritslev in North Jutland . It existed from 1904 to 1969.

history

The line was decided by the state with a total of 28 other projects with the major railway law of May 8, 1894 , but the necessary capital could not be raised. The project was only attacked after the state increased its grant to 75% of the manufacturing costs with the law of March 6, 1900. Then the necessary license was granted on July 12, 1901.

Thisted – Fjerritslev Jernbane

The company Thisted – Fjerritslev Jernbane (TFJ), founded in 1901 for the construction of the private railway line, built the line from Thisted north to Nors and from there to the east. There was discussion about whether the line should continue north to the vicinity of Hanstholm . Another project was the direct route over Hanstholm. For this, the route would have had to be extended by nine kilometers.

The works for the superstructure were put out to tender in September 1902 and transferred to the engineering office Brøchner Larsen og Krogh . On October 13, 1902, the earthworks began at Fjerritslev. In addition, 50 truckloads were delivered with rails and excavation work began at Thisted. In November 1902 the various bridge works over the waters began, stones were bought cheaply by local residents and about 100 men worked on the dam of the Lundfjord.

On January 22, 1903, a work locomotive, loaded on a flat wagon, came to V. Thorup. In June 1903 the expropriation of the landowners began from Thisted. 30 landowners, over half of those affected, were dissatisfied with the compensation offered.

In July 1903 the line in the Fjerritslev – V section was built. Thorup in full swing. The purchased locomotive was used for transport work. At the end of July 1903 a division of the engineering regiment came to Thisted to learn how to lay rails as an exercise. The built dam at Vesløs sank significantly in September 1903 and it was confirmed that the rumors of underground difficulties were justified.

Since the groundwater in Fjerritslev was not suitable for the steam locomotives because the boiler stone was too large, a pipe about one kilometer in length was laid east of the railway depot from a stream to the depot. The creek could supply 50 tons of water a day. In Thisted a new well was dug next to the water tower at the train station.

The weather was favorable for the construction work and so it was possible to build continuously in the winter of 1904 with many workers. However, there were difficulties in getting enough workers. People were not eager to do the hard work far from home and in a sparsely populated region where there were difficulties in finding accommodation and food. For workers in the region, who made up a significant part of the workforce, wages were a good source of income.

On September 15, 1904, the line had to be handed over according to the concession regulations. For the western part this was easy to do, but for the eastern part of the route, where the start of work was delayed for a long time due to differences of opinion about the route, considerable efforts had to be made. The Fjerritslev – Østerild section was provided with rails and the gravel bed was completed by Frøstrup. On August 19, 1904, the Fjerritslev – Østerild section was provisionally put into operation.

business

Women were assigned to serve on the small stations, while station masters were deployed in Nors, Østerild and Frøstrup. Ing. Cand. Polyt. PH Tarp from Copenhagen. In August 1904, 321 applications were received for the 30 positions that had been declared vacant. Most wanted were less jobs than porters and railroad workers. It was mainly people from the surrounding area who got these jobs, while higher positions, especially train drivers, train drivers and conductors, were sought at other private railways.

The line between Thisted and Fjerritslev was opened on November 19, 1904. For the construction of rails with a weight per meter used 17.5 kg. The track sections were 7.5 meters long.

The radius of curvature of the route was 2000 feet and the maximum incline 1: 100.

The company had its seat in the station of the Danske Statsbaner in Thisted. The main administration, the workshop and the depot were housed there. In the station Fjerritslev the closed railway line Fjerritslev-Frederikshavn the Fjerritslev-Frederikshavn Jernbane on. Fjerritslev station was owned jointly by the two companies.

From 1925 onwards, a number of through trains ran from Thisted to Aalborg. In the post-war period, practically all trains to Aalborg were tied through and operationally coordinated with the Fjerritslev – Aalborg railway company.

Shutdown

The line was discontinued on March 31, 1969 at the same time as the Fjerritslev – Aalborg Railway. Although uneconomical, the Thisted – Fjerritslev Railway was operated very cost-consciously. The closure was more a consequence of the major economic problems of the Fjerritslev – Aalborg Railway, as well as political forces who preferred an expansion of the road network.

Replacement route for through freight traffic

During the German occupation 1940-45, the railway gained importance several times when the main line through Jutland became unusable due to railway sabotage. There were also some acts of sabotage on the Thisted – Fjerritslev – Bahn and the Thisted – Struer – Bahn.

In 1955 the railway bridge over the Limfjord was approached by a ship. The through traffic of the freight trains via Fjerritslev – Thisted – Struer was relocated for four weeks.

In 2012 the bridge was approached again and was closed to train traffic for more than a year. Due to the closure of the line, there was no longer any possibility of relocating train traffic via Fjerritslev.

vehicles

Four used steam locomotives of the DSB P (I) series were bought from DSB for 8,000 crowns per locomotive. These locomotives, equipped with a short tender, were built in 1882 and 1883. They were superfluous at DSB, since more powerful locomotives were procured there to operate the Thybane . They were given the numbers TFJ 1 to TFJ 4.

In October 1903 eight offers for cars were received. The lowest offer came from the Vulcan factory in Maribo . Six passenger cars, two mail / baggage cars, two baggage cars and eight closed and twelve open freight cars were ordered there.

The passenger cars were delivered in September 1904, they were neatly executed and well above the standard of the state railroad cars on the Thybane, and were a cubit at the base wider than DSB cars . There were also four covered wagons that were so fine that they could be used for passenger transport.

The 22 freight cars followed in October 1904. The inspection of the route took place on October 12, 1904 at three o'clock in the afternoon. The sightseeing train consisted of a locomotive and one of the new passenger cars. At this point all four DSB locomotives had arrived, and their test drives took place on November 7, 1904.

After a short time the steam locomotives were too weak and between 1911 and 1925 four tank locomotives with the wheel arrangement 1´C 1´ from Henschel were bought in Kassel , which were given the numbers TJF 5 to TFJ 8. In return, the TFJ 1 to TFJ 4 were retired between 1915 and 1928.

As with other private railways, attempts were made from the 1920s to minimize costs with motor-driven vehicles. In 1928 two triangle railcars M 1 and M 2 were procured, followed in 1936 by the diesel-electric Frichs locomotive ML 3 with 275 hp and in 1953 by the diesel-electric Frichs locomotive ML 4 with 375 hp.

The last purchases were the three rail buses SM 4 to SM 6 with corresponding sidecars between 1948 and 1957.

Train traffic

The operation was opened with two daily train pairs and later expanded to a third train pair. Due to the rising price of coal, there was again a reduction to two pairs of trains in 1920/21. In 1921 three pairs of trains ran from Monday to Saturday and four pairs of trains in 1924/25. In 1928/29, the route was operated with railcars. From this point on, five pairs of trains ran on weekdays and six on Sundays. There was also a freight train.

In 1925, for the first time, a continuous train was run from Fjerritslev to Aalborg without changing locomotives. This train was switched from steam to railcar operation in 1928. This saved locomotives and wagons and made the journey more comfortable for passengers. When the railcars were supplemented by rail buses in 1948, several trains were tied through and some of them were operated as express trains.

Train stations

• Vandet was called Vandet Thy from 1952 to avoid confusion with Vandel on the Vejle – Vandel – Grindsted Jernbane .
• Østerild had a water tower and a water crane .
• The Tømmerby stop had a collection point for parcels in the railway keeper's house and was a ticket sales point from 1905. From 1908, after toilets were built, the station was upgraded to a train station. From January 1944, the station became a stop again with the end of staff deployment.
• The Vust stop had a collection point for parcels in the station keeper's house and was a ticket sales point from May 1, 1905. From 1908, after the construction of toilets and a goods shed, the station was upgraded to a stopping place from October 1, 1910. This had the function of a train station with certain restrictions. From 1950 the train sequence station was closed and in 1962 it was downgraded to a stopping point.
• Torup kept the old station name Thorup on the station sign.
• The Gøttrup stop was 3½ km north of the village. In 1910 a station keeper's house was built and from January 1, 1911 the stop was upgraded to a ticket sales point. This was stopped on April 1, 1924 and Gøttrup was downgraded to the breakpoint.

Station building

The station buildings were designed by Heinrich Wenck . He drew two types: the small, compact women's stations ( Danish Konestationer ) with the gable facing the route and the slightly larger men's stations ( Danish mandestationer ) with the long side facing the route. A variant of the small type stood in Tømmerby and Vust, where the original guards' houses were converted into station buildings. They were one to two meters lower than the standard version. Vesløs originally had a small type of train station but was expanded in 1919/20 so it was a mix between the two types. Frøstrup, the largest intermediate station, had a larger station building than the other stations. It was similar to that in Falling on the Horsens-Odder Jernbane .

Most of the station buildings were preserved, only those in Fjerritslev (1976) and Vesløs (1988) were demolished. The train stations in Vandet, Nors, Hillerslev, Hunstrup, Østerild, Tømmerby, Frøstrup, Vust, Torup and Klim are still there.

19 km of the former railway embankment are still preserved and accessible, mainly in the section between Østerild and Fjerritslev.

Thisted Havnebane

From the Thisted state train station in front of the private railway depot, the track branched off to the port. The port railway was not part of the private railway. The station itself is almost twelve meters above sea level, so that the siding to the port had a gradient of 22 per thousand. The port was relatively large and a track was laid on most of the quays.

The tracks also served the gas works (where the administration building of the Thisted municipality was built in the 1970s), the large transshipment building for the export of pigs (today the area of ​​the Netto supermarket at the port) and the large Tican slaughterhouse, which is still on the eastern port area .

In the middle of the harbor was a warehouse where some of the freight cars were loaded and unloaded until the late 1950s. On a siding, which was equipped with switch connections at both ends to bypass the wagons, beer was loaded at a brewery warehouse. The slaughterhouse and a feed company, which received many freight wagons from Aalborg during the season, were connected to the east. At times, so many freight wagons were provided that the farmers and agricultural merchants loaded their feed directly from the wagons onto vehicles without using the warehouse. Older maps show the tracks on the harbor square.

The port railway was operated by a Henschel tank locomotive. 1958-59 she was a Ardelt - rail tractor replaced.

The port railway in Thisted existed until the 1980s. The tracks were removed around 1990. The slope where the port railway was located can be climbed behind the cemetery between the station and the Limfjord.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Thisted – Fjerritslev Jernbane - TFJ, steam locomotive. In: jernbanen.dk. Retrieved August 6, 2020 (Danish). 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Thisted – Fjerritslev Jernbane - TFJ, motor locomotive. In: jernbanen.dk. Retrieved August 6, 2020 (Danish). 
3. ↑ Thisted - Fjerritslev jernbane. In: Nordjyllands jernbaner. Retrieved August 6, 2020 (Danish). 
4. ↑ Thisted station. In: Nordjyllands jernbaner. Retrieved August 6, 2020 (Danish). 

literature

• Asger Christiansen: Med tog over Vejlerne. Thisted-Fjerritslev Jernbane 1904-1969 , banebøger 2011.

Web links

Commons : Thisted – Fjerritslev railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Thisted - Fjerritslev Jernbane. In: jernbanen.dk. Retrieved August 6, 2020 (Danish). 
• Erik V. Pedersen: Thisted – Fjerritslev Jernbane. In: EPP. Retrieved August 6, 2020 (Danish).