Background
In the "mid-east" of Värmland (see map), a small iron works owner in the early 1900's decided to build a 2-foot gauge railroad from his plants, down to the mainline of a coorporate standard gauge railroad.
He wanted to be able to get his products out to the world aswell as he wanted to get needed goods back up. He also had a greater vision for this small RR: he wanted to standardize them enough to make them a really attractive alternative for the densely populated forest areas of the Swedish countryside. These coutryside areas could often not afford standard gauge lines and this created some communication inequalities between different parts of the country.
The name of the visionaire was Albert Bergström and his railroad concept was called "Skogsbana" – "Forest Line". In 1913 a 2-foot railroad built by this concept stood ready from Bergströms small industries at Bosjön, 28 kilometers down to the large coorporate standard gauge railroad "Bergslagsbanan" (= "Mining districts' RR", or something like that...), at a small village called Lindfors. The small railroad of Bergström was called LBB, "Lindfors-Bosjöbanan" (= "The Lindfors-Bosjö RR"). It contained some odd solutions and ideas, especially concerning the lightness of track and track bed and also other concepts, unique for the Forest line model.
One part of the LBB that didn't become so light and simple was the station house at Bosjön. It was a two story brick building on a granite foundation. It contained a flat for the engineer and his family at the bottom floor, a gathering hall and office at the second floor and a small waiting room at the track side. The house had a rather excellent architechture and it has been speculated that Borgström himself was the man behind it.
See a train leave Bosjön c. 1915; note the engine shed's wall to the right and the numerous wheel axles on the ground.
The people around the LBB were rather enthusiastic about getting a RR through their landscape, and many of them, private persons – farmers – as they were, became share holders in the RR company. Borgström had a true interest in the well-beeing of the people in the small villages along the track, and often helped people in all kinds of trouble. He also wanted that the private share holders investments really would pay off.
Rolling stock
The LBB had two steam engines. The first one was bought when the track was built and was called "Petter" (see an image). Petter was frequently used in traffic and was scrapped in 1928. Engine #2 was called "Lotta" and was a couple of years younger than Petter. She had some mechanical refinements that made her even more suitable for the kind of light track that was the idea of Albert Borgström's Forest Line. Both were rather small Orenstein & Koppel 0-6-0 tank locos.
Originally the LBB mainly used dump car chassies as trucks for timber cars aswell as for flat cars. Albert Borgström had ideas though concerning trucks especially designed for the Forest Line. His first prototypes were somewhat underdimensioned for the work they had to do, but soon he found solutions that solved such problems.
Borgströms trucks, unlike the dump car chassies, were springed so not only could they carry heavier loads, but they also didn't get their axles broken – something that frequently happened with the dump chassie trucks. See a picture of a Borgström truck (how do you model that one in S?!?).
These unique trucks were used in all kinds of cars that was in traffic at the LBB. The most common type was variations of a flat car. They had standardized dimensions and were provided with stake pockets for both tall saw timber aswell as shorter paper wood, which was stacked the other way. These flat cars also had a floor made of boards. Provided with large boxes they were suitable for transporting charcoal, sand and other such materials. A few of these flat cars had breaks.
The LBB also had four passenger cars over the years. The first one was built in 1914 at the local shop at Bosjön and had a somewhat unique design. It's that one that I've tried to model; see a comparison between the original and my model. (Sorry for the lousy scan.) It was followed in 1917 by a larger one, built on the standardized flat cars mentioned above. In 1925 a new passenger car was built, also this one on a flat car chassie, however with it's sides down below the frames. This placed its centre of gravity very low. The fourth and last passenger car was built in the late 1930's and was rather small and simple.
Bosjön and the products
At Bosjön there had been iron works situated at the fall of a small creek, into the Lake Bosjön, such as a charcoal furnace and some hammersmith works. During the late 1800's most such small iron works were deserted and some turned into wood and paper production. At Bosjön a paper wood mill were built along with a sawmill. A small factory for sweep brushes also existed there.
The main income for the people around Bosjön came from charcoal making and wood chopping, as in most places in the forested parts of Sweden in these times. Therefore the LBB mainly became a channel for bringing logs for sawing, paper wood, match wood, pitprops, sawn planks and boards, sweep brushs and paper mass down to the standard gauge mining districts' RR at Lindfors. Not only in Bosjön but all along the LBB there were small loading places where coal and wood of different kinds were loaded onto the small train. At some sites there even were experiments with semi-automatic log loaders directly from the small creeks and lakes.
In the later period of the LBB history, it was mainly different kinds of wood and charcoal that was transported along the line. However, since many private persons had financial interests in the LBB, a large amount of different goods for them was transported too, during LBB's entire existance.
Albert Borgström retires, the LBB goes down
In the 1920's Albert Borgström no longer wished to stay in Bosjön, and so he sold the industries along with his part of the LBB company to interested share holders. It then did not take so many years until the company went bancrupt and the LBB were more or less unused. In 1923 a small company took over the LBB, but also ended up with financial troubles. After some time of sporadic use, the large, worldwide company of Uddeholm bought the LBB at an auction in 1930. They then used it mainly for logging but were not really that interested in keeping the LBB alive.
In the 1930's, the northern part of the LBB were tore up and made into gravel road for cars and trucks. Only the southern part close to Lindfors were still used in the 1940's, now more sporadically than ever before. All RR buildings at Bosjön were also tore down, even the relatively large depot made of brick were considered not useful and so tore down.
In the 1949 most of the track had been tore up and sold, but the remaining steam engine #2 Lotta were still in her shed at Lindfors but had nowhere to go. She was sold and scrapped on the spot in 1958.
LBB Today
The locals around Bosjön and Lindfors has marked some places along the LBB. Its railbed still can be seen and followed in several parts in the landscape. Some parts are also driveable by car, as can be seen in the excursion web page here. At Bosjön, the almost only remaning trace is the firm granite foundation of the station house. There are also some industrial remains there, like foundations of the paper mill, the iron furnace and such.
An interesting site is the so called monument, just north of Lindfors. It's the turntable from Bosjön that has a truck of Borgström's design placed on it, and this sculpture has been roofed as a memory of the local RR history (see picture).
The local-history society has also saved aswell as renovated some LBB flat cars, which they run in the summertime on a small piece of track just west of Lindfors. They have also been able to save some rolling stock from the short works 2-foot line that ran from Lindfors to the Blombacka iron works.
All info on the LBB aswell as the historical pictures, has been taken from this book:
Staffan Mörling 1977: "Skosgbana. Historik över Lindfors-Bosjöns järnväg." Svenska järnvägsklubbens skriftserie nr 22.
("Forest line. History of the Lindfors-Bosjön Railroad." Swedish Railroad Association (SJK) book #22.) ISBN 91-85098-22-1 (See link to SJK at the links page.)
Modern photos and maps are all by my hand. |