Magnuz of Sweden mapping of narrow gauge railways in Sweden Roslagen region.
Contents.
Google My Maps with 332 km narrow gauge railways, 129 stations and stops.
Historical background to the Roslagen narrow gauge railways.
In ancient Egypt, sledges on wooden tracks were used for transporting boulders to construction sites from around 2,500 BCE. In ancient Greece, some religious processions and ship transport on land used a kind of stone tracks from around 500 BCE. Modern railways first appeared for transporting ore and coal at mines using wheeled carts on wooden rails from around 1550 in continental Europe and around 1700 in Sweden. Rails from cast iron were first used 1789 in England, and rails from wrought iron were first used in England 1808. The first steam locomotives were constructed and used in Wales and England 1804-1814. The first modern railway was inaugurated 1825 in England, between Stockton and Darlington.
The first modern railway in Sweden, a private line between Örebro and Nora, was inaugurated 1856. The first Swedish state railway was inaugurated 1862, between Stockholm and Göteborg (Södra Stambanan), followed by a branch to Malmö 1864 (Södra Stambanan) and Uppsala 1866 (the first part of Norra Stambanan). The Swedish government made it a strategy to build the state railways avoiding coastal areas and densely populated inland areas, not to compete with transports by sea, not to expose railways to enemy attacks during war, and to break new land in the so far sparsely populated inland areas of Sweden.
This left many densely populated, industrialized and agricultural regions open to commercial railway companies getting concessions from the state to build and run railways. While the state railways used the international standard gauge of 1435 mm, this was considered excessive cost and capacity for many of the private railways, which instead decided to use the "good and even" 891 mm (3 old Swedish feet) narrow gauge.
In the 19th and early 20th century, Roslagen, the coastal area north of Stockholm, was an industrial heartland of Sweden, rather densely populated, with extensive agriculture, forestry, mines and industries. However, inland transportation was a problem, with few and poor inland roads, through the joint valley landscape then still partly covered by almost impermeable taiga forests. The existing roads, used by horse-drawn carts and carriages, were insufficient for the needs to transport agricultural products, oars, metals, industrial products and passengers. Therefore, it didn't take long for private railway companies to form and start trying to build away the transport deficiencies.
In 50 years, from 1876 to 1925, more than 300 (~332) km narrow gauge railway with more than 100 (~129) stations and stops was constructed in the Roslagen region, 119 km from south (Engelbrektsplan in Stockholm) to north (Österbybruk near Tierp) and 59 km from west (Uppsala Östra) to east (Norrtälje Hamn), for both passenger and freight traffic:
Dannemora-Harg railway (DHJ) via Gimo was inaugurated 1876, Upsala-Lenna (ULJ) 1876, Knaby-Ramhäll (DHJ) 1878, Lenna-Norrtelje (LNJ) via Faringe and Rimbo 1884, Stockholm Östra-Rimbo (SRJ) 1885, Djursholmsbanan S (DjB) 1890-1912, Rimbo-Sund (RSJ) 1897-1915, Södra Roslags Kustbana (SRK) 1901-1906, Djursholmsbanan N (DjB) 1910-1937, Långängsbanan (SRJ) 1911, Risinge-Norrvällen (DHJ) 1917, Norrmon-Lövstabruk (DHJ) 1918-1925, Faringe-Gimo (FGJ) 1919-1921.
Between WW I and WW II, trucks became a serious competitor to the railways for local and regional freight traffic. After WW II, passenger cars became a serious competitor to the railways for first regional and later national passenger traffic, while trucks became a serious competitor for national and international freight traffic as well. This contributed to the dismantling of most of the narrow gauge railways in the Roslagen region in less than 20 years, 1951-1970. A few lines were dismantled before and after that as well, leaving only commuter traffic Stockholm Östra-Kårsta with branches to Österskär and Näsby Park, and museum traffic Uppsala Östra-Lenna-Faringe:
Eddavägen-Svalnäs (DjB) 1934, Risinge-Norrvällen (DHJ) 1951, Gubbo-Lövstabruk (DHJ) 1952, Dannemora-Österbybruk (DHJ) passenger 1953, Norrmon-Gubbo (DHJ) 1954, Knaby-Ramhäll (DHJ) 1958, Engelbrektsplan-Stockholm Östra (SRJ) 1960, Österbybruk-Hargshamn (DHJ) passenger 1960, Faringe-Gimo (FGJ) passenger 1960, Faringe-Alunda (FGJ) freight 1960, Långängsbanan (SRJ) 1966, Rimbo-Sund (RSJ) passenger 1966, Uppsala-Lenna (ULJ) passenger 1966-1967, Länna-Rimbo (LNJ) 1967, Stockholm-Rimbo (SRJ) freight 1969, Södra Roslags Kustbana (SRK) freight 1969, Djursholmsbanan S (DjB) freight 1969, Djursholmsbanan N (DjB) freight 1969, Rimbo-Norrtälje (LNJ) 1969, Dannemora-Hargshamn (DHJ) freight 1970, Alunda-Gimo (FGJ) freight 1970, Djursholmsbanan S (DjB) passenger 1975, Uppsala-Lenna (ULJ) freight 1977, Rimbo-Sund (RSJ) freight 1977, Kårsta-Rimbo (SRJ) passenger 1981, Stockholm Östra-Kårsta (SRJ) passenger ff, Södra Roslags Kustbana (SRK) passenger ff, Djursholmsbanan N (DjB) passenger ff, Uppsala Östra-Faringe (ULJ/LNJ) museum 1974-ff.
How the map was made.
A general structure and description of the narrow gauge railways in the Swedish region Roslagen, north of Stockholm, was found in the Swedish Wikipedia post Stockholm-Roslagens Järnvägar.
Still active lines, rails, stations and stops (Roslagsbanan and Lennakatten museum railway) were plotted on Google My Maps according to Google Maps. Additional stops, alternative names, types and historical activity, were found in Kunskapscentralen's listing of tracks by gauge (891 mm and 891/1435 mm), sections 309-325, and listing of stations. Stations, stops, lines and rails were plotted on Lantmäteriet - Min karta map with overlay of 1960 aerial photography (Flygbild ca 1960), when most lines were still active or with remains of them better visible than at present. Additional map data were derived from maps on Stig Lundins historiska hemsida. The plotting was projected to the present by shifting to present aerial photography (Flygbild), and plotted on Google My Maps by matching features to Google satellite photography overlay. Annotation data were added from the sources mentioned above and from additional sources below. Map data was exported from Google My Maps as KML, in some cases manually adjusted and re-imported to Google My Maps. KML data was also used to extract data for listings of stations, stops, lines and rails using shell scripts.
Projection errors between map and aerial/satellite photography overlays were found to vary between almost zero to several meters, in a few cases up to more than 10 meters. The plotting has been adjusted to the Google Maps aerial/satellite photography overlays, so any position determined by measuring in the map may have an error of that magnitude. In areas where the track beds have been removed or are hidden, e.g. under foliage, there may be additional uncertainties. The position of station and stops has been set to the track closest to the platform or station building, or when two tracks usually the middle between them, lengthwise closest to the station building if its somewhat central in the station area, the middle of the platform if there is a single platform, or the middle between opening and closing switches of the station area if there are platforms of varying lengths and positions. This means the positions and distances may differ by several tens of meters from the ones stated in official documentation.
For some lines and rails, stations and stops have been moved or track geometry altered over time, e.g. by increasing curve radius when train velocity has increased. In some cases, several plots for various times have been added, otherwise the plot is usually representative for the present if the line or rail is still in use, for 1960 if the line or rail was closed after 1960, or when the line or rail was closed if before 1960.
Sources to information about the narrow gauge railways.
This page, https://magnuz.se/srj/index.html, © 2023 Magnuz of Sweden,
created 2023-10-17 and last updated 2023-10-26 by Magnuz of Sweden.