Det finns inga nyheter från oss denna månad. Vi har forskat lite kring de malmvagnar som används i norr, men vi har just nu fler frågor än svar, så en sammanfattning här får vänta!
Tillverkarens Nyheter:
PCX87-modellen av Volvo 164 har kommit till butikerna nu, en mycket fin modell av den tidigaste versionen från slutet av 1960-talet. Som vanligt finns den i fyra färger, och vi räknar med att detta blir ytterligare en begränsad upplaga. I vår engelska utgåva beskriver vi en reparation som var nödvändig på en av modellerna som inte hade monterats ordentligt.
Andra intressanta nyheter:
Det finns några goda nyheter från Nene Valley Railway i England. De har sagt att UBF6Z släpvagnen 1987 var kopplad till Y7 vid Overton och efter en lyckad parning sprang de två upp till Wansford och kördes från släpvagnen. Några småjobb behövs för att bli klara och parningen av två vagnar bör börja användas strax efter påsk!
No news from us directly this month. We have been conducting some research into the Iron Ore wagons that are used up in the north, but we currently have more questions than answers, so a summary here will have to wait!
Manufacturer News
The PCX87 model of the Volvo 164 has arrived into shops now, a very nice model of the earliest version from the late 1960s. As usual, it is available in four colours, and we expect this to be another limited edition.
Observation regarding the PCX87 Volvo 164!
Once the Volvo flagship, we justified ordering one of each of the four colours offered with this model. However, our maroon one was faulty.
This newly delivered PCX87 Volvo 164 had a ‘dropped’ glazing unit!
The chassis and seats for the PCX87 Volvo 164; note the large tabs/studs at front and rear.
Note the slots for the grille and bumper; the tabs will hold the model together!
A beautiful model of a beautiful car!
Look at the first photo, and especially at the windscreen; it seems to have slipped. We decided to investigate this here (our other three were fine). Should you have a need to take apart one of these models, observe these notes. As with many model cars in this scale, you start by gently prising out the bumpers. Then you should be able to prise the body off the chassis. Not quite; with this one, you also need to prise out the chrome grille, which is not a flat moulding, it sits in a recess and need to be pushed from inside. Of course this is not easy with the chassis in place, but certain very fine modelling tools will be useful. There are pins on the chassis which are a snug fit into sockets on the body, so the whole assembly needs to be gently prised apart. Once apart, the window unit (one piece moulding for all windows) was pushed up into place and we found that it was a snap fit, suggesting that it had not been properly assembled, not that it had come loose in transit. Before, reassembling, we filed down the tab on the back of the grille so that the chassis is less dependent on it, but the grille seems to be a good enough fit to not need a drop of glue. Bumpers are of course a snug fit, and it is important to note which way up the rear one goes – it’s quite obvious at the front. Finally, at all stages, remember to take great care handling the model, the door-mirrors are very vulnerable!
Other News
A Social Media post from the Nene Valley Railway on Sunday 20th March, read, “Swedish railcar ran well in service today. Friday saw the trailer car connected at Overton and after a successful pairing the two ran up to Wansford being driven from the trailer car. A few little jobs to finish and the two car pairing should enter service just after Easter!” This is certainly good news and will be a pleasant train to see and travel in.
If you are looking for a good time to visit Sweden, consider this event… Since the Swedish Transport Administration is installing the new ERTMS signalling system on the Iron Ore Railway, up in the north, they wanted to run actual ore trains with the Railway Museum’s locomotives one last time. (Heritage locos are not fitted with the new signalling interfaces!) They also want to celebrate the 120-year anniversary of the northern section of the ore line, and to coincide with the Kiruna Festival.
Kiruna Festival, Thursday 30 June – Saturday 2 July
Scheduled events in Kiruna:
Exhibit of historic and modern locomotives at Kiruna Station on Thursday and Friday afternoons. Steam locomotive R 976 from 1909, electric locomotive Dm3 1246-1247-1248 “Oskar” from 1970 and Rc1 1007 from 1967. Exact times for the locomotive exhibits to be announced this spring.
Short daytime tours by steam train for the public in Kiruna on all three days. Tentative pick-up and drop-off at Kiruna Station, free of charge, no pre-booking – just show up and come on board.
A lunch train on all three days, round trip from Kiruna to Abisko pulled by electric locomotive Da 888 from 1955, which used to serve the Iron Ore Line. This needs to be pre-booked.
Historic ore trains, night towards Sunday 3 July
During the lightest hours of the midnight sun, two historic ore trains will run along the Kiruna–Vassijaure route. They are running these trains at night because trackwork is taking place in the morning on the northern part of the Iron Ore Line, and because traffic is minimal this late at night.
Ore train with steam locomotive R 976. This steam locomotive was built to pull the ore trains on the most demanding section, from Abisko Östra to Riksgränsen at the Norwegian border, so these locomotives became the most robust ever built for Swedish train service. The planned wagon weight is 1,400 tonnes – exactly what the R locomotives are built to pull.
Ore train with electric locomotive Dm3 1246-1248-1248. This is the classic electric locomotive type that operated on the Iron Ore Line up to 2013, and in its time was one of Europe’s strongest electric locomotives with close to 10,000 horsepower. The Dm3 is built to pull a wagon weight of 5,200 tonnes. Loaded ore wagons from LKAB will be pulled behind it.
After both ore trains arrive in Vassijaure, all loaded wagons will be switched to one train and pulled by LKAB to Narvik (R 976 and Dm3) will carry ore that will actually be transported to Narvik.
Experiencing the magic of these trains doesn’t cost you a thing – all you need to do is get yourself out into nature in the middle of the night. Please keep in mind that because these are museum locomotives, they might not perform as intended. But the Railway Museum will do everything in its power to make it work out.
Here are some photo tips:
On the afternoon of Monday 27 June, Rc1 1007 will pull a train along the same route with all their passenger carriages and staff. The train will arrive in Kiruna on Tuesday afternoon.
Late Saturday night on 2 July, Rc1 1007 will pull a freight train from Kiruna to Abisko Östra.
During the week of 23 May, Dm3 will slowly pull a decoupled (cold) R 976 at 40 km/hr from Gävle to Kiruna. The trip will take about 2-3 days.
On Monday evening, 4 July, the Rc1 will pull a train from Abisko Östra down to Gävle with all passenger carriages and staff who will arrive in Gävle on Tuesday evening.
On Tuesday, 5 July, Dm3 will bring a decoupled, cold R 976 to Gävle. This train will also operate at 40 km/hr and reach Gävle in 2-3 days.
Note that these trains are for display only and will not carry passengers.
More details at: https://www.jarnvagsmuseet.se/en/trains-trips/current-programme
Behind the Scenes
Mini-Series about the FLMJ, 4: Gärde and Fjällnäs
On its way northwards from Lövhöjden, the Railway would pass Gärde. This mid-way halt would be served only by local trains. However, when the railway did reach this station, InterRegio trains often made the extended journey, and on the rare occasion, an InterCity train would also venture this far! The track layout was essentially simple, and the ‘headshunt’ was clearly the start of the line farther north to Fjällnäs. Sadly, the baseboard materials were faulty and needed replacing; but the station never did get rebuilt.
Dm 836+837, the Roco model, is seen at Gärde with an iron ore train of ‘Uad’ wagons
Gärde nearly got more tracks than just those described above. It was considered for the terminus of a narrow gauge tourist railway using H0e 9mm track (600mm in scale terms). However, we decided that this gauge would be too difficult to manage in the outdoor environment, so the plans were abandoned and the entire collection sold off. If a new “FLMJ” is built in Sweden, and there is room for a narrow gauge section, then H0n3 10,5mm track will be selected (representing the 891mm gauge, or ‘three Swedish feet’)!
An ‘Exhibition Circuit’ for narrow gauge trains during SJ-150 in 2006!
Fjällnäs, sadly, only ever existed on paper (or hard-drive)! The name had been used on the final layout before the Park Home was exchanged, but the intended terminus was beyond our reach. Had the circumstances that led to the Railway’s closure not occurred, then it is fair to suggest that the terminus would have been reached now. There was a “2020 Vision” for the Railway, and everything was on time according to the schedule. As a terminus, the ore trains would require the loco running round to take the train to and from Arjeplog, where there was said to be the ore mine! (The wagons would be loaded here, and emptied at Ålunden!) Arjeplog would quite possibly be located in the second shed.
A visiting ‘Ra’ locomotive calls at Fjällnäs station during a rainy open event.
We were fortunate to acquire two Roco ballast wagons in a plain grey livery. They are the same specification as the yellow ones, but not as brightly coloured! Unfortunately, one of them has a number duplicating one of the decaled duplicates! However, we have been able to order new decals from a supplier here in Sweden, so we hope to be able to supply them before too long. At the same time, the supplier has agreed to make up some decals for our ‘freelance’ Z69 so that it can carry an authentic number quite neatly. A future order will be to replace the painted numbers that were to relabel the duplicate carriages (B7 5501, WL2 4477, and others); and even later transfers to renumber the many wagons that have incorrect UIC control digits! Check on our links page for Byggsvenskt.nu if you would also like to renumber your Swedish models (and see all the other things that are available here — this is, for example, where we got our X10 chassis from)!
Grey ‘Qbd’ wagons, exactly like the bright yellow ones in all other respects.
Roco’s Z66 000; to become Z69 659.
Manufacturer News
SVLV (Skultorps Vagn & Lokverkstad) has produced a new motorised chassis for the Perl/UGJ Y6 railbuses. The motor is of the Faulhabertyp with flywheel and can be suited to Analogue or digital. It costs SEK 1 990 — 2 380 according to version. (Divide by 11 to get vague GBP amount!)
The Minichamps cars that were advertised for December 2021 are now shewing December 2022. There is no change to the other dates; Volvo 240 models are expected in January and Saab 900 models in February. The screenshots were taken December 29th.
The motorised chassis from SVLV for the Y6 series railbuses; models from Perl and UGJ.
Volvo 240GL Sedan and Estate models, expected from Minichamps 1.2022.
Saab 900 Cabriolet and Coupé models, expected from Minichamps 2.2022.
Other News
Enthusiasts of the Swedish railways, in the UK seem to be in for some good news. In a social media post from the Wansford MPD (at the Nene Valley Railway), they confirm that one of the next two locos in for overhaul will be the Swedish B class number 101, which presently stands as a static exhibit at Wansford station. (An earlier news article from another source said that the Swedish S class number 1178 was to be restored. From our own investigation, 1178 is in much poorer condition and its restoration is likely to be cosmetic only. But it doesn’t have to end there; 101 has been the subject of cosmetic restoration, and now it’s moving on from there…!) 101 started life as SWB A2 101. It was manufactured by Nydqvist & Holm AB – Bofors-Nohab AB, Trollhättan, Sweden in 1944; Manufacturing number 2082. In 1945 it became SJ B 1697. This explains why the number plates on the cab sides declare that 101 is a class A. It was always painted black in Swedish service, but the British public like a bit more colour, so several of the NVR’s continental locos are painted inauthentically; 101 is a light blue!
SWB A2 101, aka SJ B 1697; but conveniently referred to as SJ B 101; at the Nene Valley Railway [media photo].
Various pages on this website have been updated; can you find them all?
Behind the Scenes
Over the next twelve updates/months, we are going to run a small series of articles; too small to really take up space on the other pages of this website; about what the FLMJ was really about. We’ll look at a number of topics that made the FLMJ what it was, starting now, with a look at the absolute basic representation.
Mini-Series about the FLMJ, 1: The Diorama
Although the FLMJ replaced the KRBJ, the name is irrelevant with regards to the development of the garden railway. Over the entire 30 year history in the UK, improvements and refinements were continual until what we can now consider the final phase of the UK based set-up, with which we were very happy. We started with only a vague idea, which had many limitations. A simpler layout comprising a figure-of-eight inside a circuit was akin to a train set, which is not what we wanted. With the delivery of a new Park Home, we had to start all over again; and the plan for an end-to-end layout with a subtle branch line to make a circuit turned out to be the answer. It went through a few changes in terms of track layouts, but the final arrangement was absolutely ideal.
The route started from Ålunden, our fiddle yard (or ‘shadow station’ in Swedish terminology) in the shed. The main line then went around three sides of the home, before turning 180° the other way to go along the back perimeter to a final 90° turn to the terminus. The subtle branch line completed the circuit around the home. The home had been given the name, “Siljan”, so the line closing the circuit became the “Siljansbanan”.
The names were chosen to reflect the north (Fjällnäs), central (Lövhöjden) and south (Månstorp) areas of Sweden; with the great idea that the scenery would reflect those areas (all trains would work over the entire railway). However, the scenery had to be compromised in the outdoor environment; which was always a disappointment. Other names crept in. We needed a name for a halt between central and north, so Gärde was chosen. A town nearby would be called ‘Gärdestad’, which also happened to be the name of a favourite musician, who sadly passed away at the time that the name was chosen, so we have kept it ever since. Toraberg, also marking a bereavement, was the name of the house built by a friend in Sweden. But Kopparberg and Arjeplog were chosen in respect of a Harry Potter connection; deliberately subtle because not everyone would appreciate that character or creation. (In the ‘supporting book’, “Quidditch through the Ages”, reference is made to the Annual Broom Race of Sweden, which dates from the 10th Century, and goes from Kopparberg to Arjeplog. It is said that the race passes over a dragon enclosure, but we didn’t need to model that because non-magical people cannot see it!)
In the final years of the operational FLMJ, we had a track plan that worked well. There was consistency with the train services and formations; and timings. Authentically, most (passenger) trains operated to a two hourly timetable, and the goods trains worked around them. But the timetable was so well written that there were brief periods of absolute inactivity; at exactly the right times for Fika and Lunch breaks! Furthermore, it was possible to operate the basic timetable by one person, or by a group of people operating an ‘enhanced service’. The feel-good factor was very strong.
Next month we will consider the three primary locations, Lövhöjden, Månstorp and Ålunden.
Vi hade turen att få två Roco ballastvagnar i en vanlig grå färg. De har samma specifikation som de gula, men inte lika starkt färgade! Tyvärr har en av dem ett nummer som duplicerar en av de dekalerade dubbletterna! Vi har dock kunnat beställa nya dekaler från en leverantör här i Sverige, så vi hoppas kunna leverera dem innan alltför lång tid. Samtidigt har leverantören gått med på att göra upp några dekaler för vår ‘frilansande’ Z69 så att den kan bära ett autentiskt nummer ganska snyggt. En framtida order kommer att vara att ersätta de målade numren som skulle ommärka de dubbla vagnarna (B7 5501, WL2 4477 och andra); och även senare överföringar för att omnumrera de många vagnarna som har felaktiga UIC-kontrollsiffror! Kolla på vår länksida för Byggsvenskt.nu om du också skulle vilja numrera om dina svenska modeller (och se allt annat som finns här — det är till exempel här vi har fått vårt X10-chassi ifrån)!
Tillverkarens Nyheter
SVLV (Skultorps Vagn & Lokverkstad) har tagit fram ett nytt motoriserat chassi till Perl/UGJ Y6 rälsbussarna. Motorn är av Faulhabertyp med svänghjul och kan anpassas till analog eller digital. Den kostar 1 990 — 2 380 kr beroende på version.
Minichamps-bilarna som annonserades för december 2021 visas nu december 2022. Det är ingen förändring av de andra datumen; Volvo 240-modeller väntas i januari och Saab 900-modeller i februari. Skärmbilderna (i de engelska nyheterna) togs den 29 december.
Andra nyheter
Entusiaster av den svenska järnvägen, i Storbritannien verkar få goda nyheter. I ett inlägg på sociala medier från Wansford MPD (vid Nene Valley Railway) bekräftar de att ett av de två kommande loken för översyn kommer att vara den svenska B-klassen nummer 101, som för närvarande står som en statisk utställning på Wansford station. (En tidigare nyhetsartikel från en annan källa sa att den svenska S-klassen nummer 1178 skulle återställas. Enligt vår egen undersökning är 1178 i mycket sämre skick och dess restaurering kommer sannolikt endast att vara kosmetisk. Men det behöver inte ta slut där, 101 har varit föremål för kosmetisk restaurering, och nu går det vidare därifrån…!) 101 började sitt liv som SWB A2 101. Den tillverkades av Nydqvist & Holm AB – Bofors-Nohab AB, Trollhättan, Sverige 1944; Tillverkningsnummer 2082. 1945 blev det SJ B 1697. Detta förklarar varför nummerskyltarna på hyttens sidor deklarerar att 101 är en klass A. Den målades alltid svart i svensk tjänst, men den brittiska allmänheten gillar lite mer färg, så flera av NVR:s kontinentala lok är oäkta målade; 101 är en ljusblå!
Vi har startat en miniserie om originalet FLMJ i England. Tyvärr är detta för mycket för oss att översätta här. All framtida järnvägsverksamhet kommer givetvis att vara tvåspråkig; kanske också en bok om järnvägen, om vi kan hitta ett lämpligt förlag som kan övervaka översättningarna.
