Travel back in time to 1927 when steam and electric ran side by side. A time when Sweden's western mainline just had been electrified. Take control of the modern electric locomotive class D, the tried and tested steam locomotive class B, the light but strong steam locomotive class E, the small class Sa tank locomotive. Wether you prefer a non stop express, a local comute, or freight. This route got it. Drive from the husle and busle of Sweden's capital Stockholm, passing through small communities dense forests and by glissening lakes. Route. Västra stambanan, Stockholm - Södertälje södra is a 36 km long route with 11 stations. This route could be clasified as rural. With an exeption of the capital you will mostly see forests, lakes, fields an ocasional farm and small communities along this route. Why sutch a short route? My idea was varitey over length from the get go. Here the focus is on the rollingstock insted of the overall route length. If one wanted you could extend the route to Hagalunds depån (Hagalund depot) which whould ad about 6km to the route. Map overveiw. Why this route? As why I suggested this route. Simple answer, 1. I live in this area and I think this time period is interesting. 2: A swedish route has never been done. Not in Tsw nor in Tsc. 3. We haven't had a route yet where steam and electric trains run in regular service side by side. As for why I think 1927 was a good year to start with. It is the year after the western mainline between Stockholm and Göteborg was fully elecrified. It is two years before the new bridge årstabron opened that shortend the line by 4 km. If a more modern route comes along later, you already have museum trains to ad more layers to it. As for why I thought Södertälje södra would be a good end point. Well this was the most logical stoping point I could find to not make the route to long and difficult to build. Locomotives. Electric locomotive class D. A electric locomotive used for both passenger and freight train. Max speed: 90 km/h (Passenger) / 70 km/h (Freight). Steam locomotive class B. Built for mixed service trafic, ranging from fast freight to heavy passenger trains. Max speed: 90 km/h. Steam locomotive class E. Ånglokomotiv littera E (Steam locomotive class E) was built for passenger and freight service in northern Sweden. As well as heavy freight train in the southern half of the country. Max speed 65 km/h Steam locomotive class Sa. Built for medium distace passenger service, the locomotives were to a lagre extent used for comuter services. Max speed: 80 km/h. Express train. The more common express trains or snälltåg, that ran on this line was and still is. The train Stockholm-Göteborg and Stockholm-Malmö, conecting Swedens three largest cities. An Express train pulled by a class B. Comuter train. Comuter trains of this era mostly consisted of 2 axle 3rd class coaches and 2 axle baggage waggons. Freight. Freight trains is obviously present on this route. Stations. The stations incuded on this route are Stockholm Central. The capitol and one end of the route. A photograf of the station looking south-east. Södra bantorget. Primarly used as a freight terminal. Liljeholmen. A small industrial area where a locomotive and waggon repair shop are. Älvsjö Here the line towards Nynäshamn braches of. Huddinge, Stuvsta, Tullinge, Tumba, Rönninge, Östertälje and Södertälje södra. Where the other end of the route terminates. Final thoughts. I know this route is highly unlikely to be made. But hey there always that slim chance. I have more photografs, maps, trackplans and more to share if anyone is interested. I hope you find this route interesting. Thanks.
Just wanted to ad a few more photografs. Here we have a arial photografy of Liljeholmen. And one of Tullinge.
Have felt a little annoyed that I was limited to five files so I couldn't add theese in the original post. So I'll post them here now. Photografs of the remaining Locomotives. Class B Class E and Class Sa
The Class B really resembles the DSB Class D steam loco. Fantastic to see these. Are any steam locos preserved, I know Denmark have quite a few preserved in museums
Hello. Back again with more to share. This time with more locomotives that ran this line. Let us start with... Steam locomotive class J. Built to supplement the very successful class S (Sa) in comuter services. Max speed: 75km/h. Steam locomotive class Na. Originally built to be used for shunting services and as a helper locomotive for Malmbanan (inon ore line). It was quickly discovered that the class was sutible for heavy shunting services in the southern half of the country. Max speed: 45 km/h. And last but not least. Let's go out BIG. Steam locomotive class F Built for the heavy passenger trains. They mainly ran on the southern mainline (Stockholm-Malmö which joined up with the western mainline further down the line beyond Södertälje södra). It became the largest steam locomotive and the only locomotive of the "pacific type" to run in Sweden. Max speed: 90 km/h. As for how they could supliment the route. Well the most logical solution would be as a layer from another route. Probably of a section of the southern mainline, Malmö and somewhere north (maybe). All the locomotives have their unique quirks and would compliment each other well.
Back again. This time with some signals and semafors used at the time. Signals/ Semafors. During the 1920's the mecanical semafor signals starded to be replaced with collored light signals. As with spirit of steam, this creates situation were two types of signals are used simultaneously . The old semfors were being replaced with colored lights signals on a 1 to 1 ratio. A one armed semafor was replaced with a two light signal, a two armed semafors was replaced with a three light signal and so on. As for what the ment, well I'll do my best to explain what I've been able to find. Let's start with main signals. A horisontal arm/ red light have always ment stop. As for the different number of diagonal armes/ green lights have differed over time. But this is what I've been able to find out what they ment during this time. The one armed semafor/ two light signal just means go. Two armes/ green lights ment go, train side path 1 (i.e. your train is being diverted to a siding, slow down). Three armes/ green lights ment go, train side path 2 (i.e. your train is being diverted to to a siding and might be expetded to stop). So the more green you got, the slower you are expected to go. Distant signals Distant signals consisted of a blinking light either a green or white. The distant femafor signal consited of a green painted disk with a white trim that rotated around a horizontal axis. The disk also had a hole in with a green glass lens that would allow for a white light source mounted to the pole to shine through when the disk was in a down position. As for what they ment. Generally a green blinking light ment next signal is red, expect to stop and a white blinking light ment next signal is green, expect to go. The yellow "side path light" were used to signal that the next signal has more than one green light, expect to slow. They were placed between 500-1000 meters before the main signal. Dwarf signals Dwarf signals are used for indicate shunting maneuvers but does also applly for trains. A: Means stop for all types traffic. B: All types of traffic permited to pass. C: All types of traffic permited to pass slow (points checked and and no obsticals ahead). D: Sunting and coach/ waggon movment permited to pass (check points and for obsticals) stop for trains. E and F are a combined main and dwarf signal. E: Go for trains (if the green light is blinking, then the next signal is generally red). F: Go slow for trains (generally in a turnout). As for their placment. Since Sweden has left hand traffic, they are normaly placed on the left side of the track. Where there are dubble tracked lines the signals are placed outside their respective track.
Hello again! This time I'm going to write a little about the commuter/ local trains or 'lokaltåg' in swedish. As mentioned earlier, theese trains consisted of 2 axle 3rd class coaches (mostly). They had open vestibules and an interior that in most cases consisted of wooden benches, in other cases the benches was cowered in a thick fabric. They were usaly hauled by tank locomotives that were capable of traveling as fast in revese as in forward. The most common type of commuter coach was the C3d class, which 275 were built. The first 183 coaches had a wooden body with a sheet metal panel exterior and painted red. While the remaining 92 coaches had a un painted teak exterior. Class C3d Accompanying theese coaches usaly were a couple of F1 baggage... wagons? coaches? They had a wooden boddy and were painted red. Class F1 As for the train composition 1x F1, 5x C3d and 1x F1. That way you'll have one baggage coach at each end of the train and five passenger coaches in between. Anyway that is my suggestion for a commuter train. (If this route ever gets made). More coaches did exsist, but I think this is enough, for now... And a scenario suggestion to go with it. "Down and back-up again." Take the class Sa on a full line stopping service. Uncouple, do a run around and couple up to the other end. Do a full service in the other direction. This time runing backwards.
A new week, a new post. This time it's freight. Freight trains mostly consisted of 2 axled waggons, but some boggie waggons did exsist aswell (manly specialized stock from what I've been able to find). They ran to and from a veriety of locations along this route ranging from freight yards, ports and industies. Transporting a variety of goods, machinery parts, perishables, bulk goods and more. Both electric and steam locomotives were used. However some track sections were unelectrified mainly the ports and are only reachable by steam. (And with a certain layer, more of theese ares could see more activity...) Here are a selection of freight waggons that ran at the time. Class Lrg Originaly built to transport charcoal. Later variants were built to transport other bulk goods aswell. Some were equiped with air brakes, thoose who didn't were equiped with throu lines. As for how they were painted... probably red or perhaps dark gray with a black undercarriage? Class Gsh Your standard covered freight waggon. Used to transport a veriety of goods. Again they equiped with air brakes, thoose who didn't were equiped with throu lines. They were painted red with a black undercarriage. Class Or A stake waggon, used trasport timber/ fire wood among other large goods. They were equiped with airbrakes. Were painted red with a black or red undercarrige. More types did run on this route, not only swedish but foreign waggons to... And a senario suggestion to go with it. "Fast fright." 'It is a early October morning. The fog lies thick on the ground.' You are assigned to colect a fast freight train from Södra bantorget. Take the class B from the roundhouse to Södra bantorget and collect your train. Take the train as far as Södertälje södra. But drive becarefuly, due to the poor visabilaty you might not bee able to see what lies ahead.
Hello again! This time it's express trains or Snälltågs turn. Some of the more larger express trains on this route were the ones that ran between Stockholm-Göteborg hauled by a class D and Stockholm-Malmö hauled by a class B or F. Express trains of this era could consist of a farily large variety of coaches in various combinations. 1st, 2nd, 3rd class coaches for both day and night trafic. Aswell as baggage and mail sorting coaches. But as to not make this post look like mail order catalog, I'm just going to mention a few. All of the following coachers had 2x2 axle boggies, air brakes and were steam heated. Fo1 The Fo1 was a full length baggage coach. 10 were built in 1919 with a further 5 in 1929. They had 2 cargo spaces with a conductors compartment between them. The first 10 had a wooded boddy painted red, a red painted roof and a undercarrige painted black. Bo4 The Bo4 was a 1st/ 2nd class day coach. 28 of theese coaches were rebuilt from the class Bo3 coaches between 1923 to 1932. The interior consisted of 6 compartments with 6 seats for 2nd class passengers and 4 seats if a compartment was utilized for 1st class. They had a wodden boddy covered with sheet metal panels and painted blue. The roof was painted red and the undercarrige black. ABo3 The ABo3 was a resturant coach. 12 were built between 1911 and 1927. The dining area had seats for 40 guests. The first 3 had a wodden boddy covered with sheet metal panels paited blue while the remaining 9 had a teak boddy. The roof was painted red and the undercarrige black. Co8 The Co8 was 3rd class day coach. 78 were built between 1917 to 1927 with a further 3 in 1929. The interior consisted of 4 compartments with 8 seats each and 2 open seating areas for 23 passengers each. The majority (50+) had a teak panel boddy while others had a wooden boddy eather painted red or were teak leserd. The roof was paited red on the first 68 coaches and black on the rest. All had the undercarrige painted black. Since the class D lacked steam heating equipment a special steam heating coach had to be attached to those trains during the colder months of the year. A lot more classes of coaches ran at this time. Some trains even consisted of a mix of swedish and german choaches... And a senario suggestion to go with it. "Another day on the right track?" 'Start on foot at the depot.' Walk over to the class D prepare it for service. Couple up to the formation and drive down to the station. Load passengers and perform a brake test. Perform a full service, but be prepared for scheduled delays due to maintenance work down the line.
Hello! I'm back to write about some layers and substitutions that could compliment this route. However there are curently nothing that could do either. This route and subsequent routes needs get made in the first place. Anyway let's get the most obvious ones out of the way first. I've already mentioned the class F, the class J and the class Na steam locomotives. The class F would substitute the class B, the class J would substitute the class Sa and the class Na would layer on shunting services to the route. More commuter stock. C3a/ C3b The C3a and the C3b were the C3d's predecessors (if that wasn't obvious from their classifications). They would be able to substitute the C3d in commuter trains. (If locomotives can substitute each other, then there is no reason why coaches shouldn't be able to). More freight stock. Q12/ Hs The Q12 was a colection of tank waggons. Most if not all were privatly owned (might cause some licensing issues) and registered with the swedish state railways. They were used to transport a large veriety of liquid cargo (the one in the photograph was used transport nitric acid). The Hs was a refrigeration waggon. Used to transport perishables. More express stock. ABCo2/ Ao2a/ Fo2 / Do2 Sleeper trains were a common sight at the time. One of theese sleeper trains were the "Berlin express" that ran between Stockholm and Berlin. Here are some coaches that ran in this train. The ABCo2 a 1st/ 2nd and 3rd class sleeper coach , the Ao2a a full length 1st/ 2nd class sleeper coach (a copy of the german WLAB6ü coach), the Do2 a full length mail sorting coach and the Fo2 a full length baggage coach. These coaches would most logicly layer on after another swedish route and a german route from the same time period gets made. Then it would be possible for trains consisting of coaches from both countries to run on both rutes. German passenger stock. WLAB6ü/ ABC4ü/ Post4ü/ Pw4ü28 The WLAB6ü was a 1st/ 2nd class sleeper coach, the ABC4ü was a 1st, 2nd and 3rd class seating coach, the Post4ü was a full length mail sorting coach (the german equivalent of the swedish Do2) and the Pw4ü28 was a full length baggage coach. At the time all of these coaches were owned by the DRG (deutsche reichsbahn gesellschaft). Finding photographs of the individual coaches proved be tricky. So the best I could do is this. Some of them don't have their correct DRG livery, but hey. Both the swedish and the german stock would be able to substitute each other. This means that every time you start a service the consist might look different from the last one. German freight stock. G10 The G10 was a german covered freight wagon. Used to transport a large variety of goods. Finding appropriate rolling stock proved trickier than I thought. But I guess that pretty much every type of stock could have been used. If you need to transport something, then use the appropriate waggon. And to finish it all of, another senario suggestion. "Express brakedown." 'A passenger coach on the express train at Stockholm central has broken down.' Take the class Na to replace the broken coach. Couple up to the formation. Uncouple 3 coaches, shunt the coaches in to a siding and uncouple the broken coach. Couple up to a new replacment coach and couple back up to the formation. Uncouple the coaches and back up to the siding. Couple up to the brocken coach and take it down to the southern end of the platform, wait for the express train to depart. Continiue and deliver the coach to the repair shop at Lijeholmen. Ucouple and return to back up to the siding.
Hello again! After giving the rolling stock a more through runthrough. I thought I should give the locomotives some attention to. It's the locomotives that most people are interested in afterall. However, I will only write about the locomotives that I proposed to come with this route. Electric locomotive class D Ellokomotiv littera D (electric locomotive class D) was a series of electric locomotives for Statens Järnvägar (Swedish state railways). A total of 333 locomotives over several batches and variations were built. The first batch consisting of 50 locomotives was orderd in 1923, numbered from 101 to 150 and were delivered from 1925 to 1926. Two variations were built, one geared for passenger service and the other geared for freight service. All locomotives of the first batch were built with a wooden boddy covered with teak panels, a undercarrige and running gear painted black. Tecnical data Service wheight: 79500 kg. Adhesion wheight: 51000 kg. Max tactive effort: 141 kN (Passenger) / 187 kN (Freight). Traction motor power output: 1220 kW (2x610 kW). Max speed: 90 kph (Passenger) / 70 kph (Freight). Type of brakes: Air brakes. Axle arengement: 1'C'1 (2,6,2 wheel arengment). Steam locomotive class B Ånglokomotiv littera B (Steam locomotive class B) was a series of steam locomotives for Statens Järnvägar. Built for mixed service trafic, ranging from fast freight to heavy passenger trains, they proved to be a very succesful design and was used all over the country. 96 locomotives of this class were built between 1909 and 1919. From 1919 to 1948 almost all locomotives were rebuilt with an enclosed cab. They were painted all black. Tecnical data Locomotive Service wheigt: 70200 kg. Adhesion wheight: - kg. Max tactive effort: 94,1 kN. Max speed: 90 kph. Boiler preassure: 12 atm. Type of brakes: Air brakes. Axle arengement: 2'C'0 (4,6,0 wheel arengment). Tenter Service wheight: 46600 kg. Max water capacity: 20 m2. Max coal storage: 6000 kg. Steam locomotive class E Ånglokomotiv littera E (Steam locomotive class E) was a series of steam locomotives for Statens Järnvägar. Built for passenger and freight service in the northern parts of Sweden, as well as heavy freight trains in the southern half of the country. Between 1907-1920, 130 locomotives of this class were purchased by Statens Järnvägar. They were painted all black. Tecnical data Locomotive Service wheigt: 50000 kg. Adhesion wheight: 50000 kg. Max tactive effort: 88,3 kN. Max speed: 65 kph. Boiler preassure: 12 atm. Type of brakes: Air brakes. Axle arengement: 0'D'0 (0,8,0 wheel arengment). Tenter Service wheight: 32800 kg. Max water capacity: 14 m2. Max coal storage: 5200 kg. Steam locomotive class Sa Ånglokomotiv littera Sa (Steam locomotive class Sa) was a serie of tank locomotives for Statens Järnvägar. Originaly classified as Littera S and reclassified to Littera Sa in 1916. 46 locomotives were built between 1908 and 1916. Built for medium distace passenger service, the locomotives were to a lagre extent used for commuter services. As the elecrification of the rail network progrest through the 1930s some were sold of to other operators. They were painted all black. Tecnical data Service wheigt: 62700 kg. Adhesion wheight: - kg. Max tactive effort: 72,6 kN. Max speed: 80 kph. Boiler preassure: 12 atm. Max water capacity: 8 m2. Max coal storage: 2200 kg. Type of brakes: Air brakes. Axle arengement: 1'C'1 (2,6,2 wheel arengment). That's all I've got for this route. Thank you all that have read this and all the previous posts. And another BIG thanks to all of you that have liked them. I have started to research another route to acompany this one. However it might take a couple of weeks or mayby even months before that route suggestion comes. Until then stay safe and let there be a clear track ahead.
I highly approve of this route and it's rolling stock. You should take the idea to Dovetail Games immediately!
