Brief History of Swedish Narrow Gauge Railways
In Sweden, when talking about 60 cm gauge railways, we have had 7 "real" narrow gauge railways. These
are the following:
- Kosta Railway
- Helsingborg Raa Ramlosa Railway (HRRJ)
- Nettraby Alnaryd Eringsboda Railway (NAEJ)
- Jonkoping Gripenbergs Railway (JGJ)
- Munkedals Railway
- Stafsjo Railway
- Anneberg Ormaryds Railway (AOJ)
(The "J" in the railway abbreviations is for the Swedish word for railway (jarnvag).)
We've naturally had several others, but the above had the profile of the large railway, they transported freight and passenger
following some kind of timetable. Some started off as industrial railways but realized the need for others to use this
brand new way of transportation and started to run passenger trains as well (maybe they wanted to make a few extra bucks as well...).
All railwas started in the late 19th century, when railways was the most popular, if not the only, way to transport larger
volumes of freight from one place to another. When the roads and cars were getting better in the 1930s then most of them
closed even if some were used into the 50s as the industrial railways they once were built.
Luckily for us (in Sweden) all are described in a series of books (only in swedish). I will try to put
brief descriptions here for each of the above railways.
Besides the above railways we've had, as mentioned, other 60cm gauge railways as industrial systems here in Sweden. I will try to
include descriptions of these as well. The story so far:
Prototypes