News from May 2024

Our News

T23 120 was taken onto the workbench during May. We removed the ‘chip’ and the circuit-board that it was connected to; and then connected the cables from the wheels directly to the cables to the motor. This done, the loco gave a very smooth performance; and that is before low-speed running-in or the fitting of a suppressor! Now that we KNOW the problem lies with the chip (or circuit-board) we can ask Jeco to fix the problem. We were unable to tell if it was the chip or the circuit-board that was at fault because there was no means of hot-wiring the circuit-board with the chip removed!

Manufacturer News

We have no news from the Manufacturers, this month.

Other News

Nässjö Railway Museum held an open day at the beginning of the month, where amongst other attractions, the steam railbus from the former Halmstad Nässjö Railway was giving rides along Nässjö station, and there was an opportunity to get photos of a T21 diesel loco ready for when we make new handrails for the Heljan models!

Nearer the end of the month, the same museum celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Nässjö Oskarshamn Railway, a line which passes through the village where we are now located, so a day out was organised with them. Because today, there are no turning facilities at Oskarshamn, the steam loco (SJ class A5 number 1545, formerly Kalmar Railway number 17) at the front was assisted by a diesel loco (SJ T41 200) at the back, and the diesel headed the train on the return, at least as far as Berga. The train was delayed at Berga, so with sufficient loops at the station, the steam loco was moved to the front, albeit running tender-first. There had been a fear that the steam loco would not have been allowed to run, due to the hot dry weather (and line-side fire risk), but thankfully there was quite a lot of rain on the day before…!

Behind the Scenes

Mini-Series about the new railway; 6: Sörlidsbanan

A third narrow-gauge element is possible, at Rickbacken, to be seen as a remnant of a much larger system, but now only permitting a shuttle service between the station and the town’s main school. But why? Well, this would be H0m (12mm gauge) to represent Sweden’s 1067mm gauge (not exactly, but close enough), to add to the variety. This section would include, using commercially available components, a dual-gauge section (H0+H0m), because that is so Swedish, and is therefore, the reason that we want to do this! Given that this will be a graded line (station level to town level), Sörlidsbanan seems a good name (and it has a local connection). We mentioned earlier that 891mm was seemingly Sweden’s most popular narrow gauge, and it is one of the two where railways were absorbed by the State. Some of the 1067mm gauge railways were also absorbed by the state. At the very minimum, we would need one railbus, a YBo5t which would have been regauged from the 891mm YBo5p!

(As a rule-of-thumb, the final SJ suffix ‘p’ indicated trains gauged for 891mm, and ‘t’ for trains gauged for 1067mm. Other narrow gauges did not have a suffix, but were also not owned by SJ. Pre-1970±, the small ‘o’ indicated rolling stock fitted with bogies instead of 2 (or 3) axles.)

Next Month: Zätaspåret.