The Traffic Area

The Ekensholm line is a private owned railway somewhere in the mining district in central Sweden. Years go by but the calendar is still showing September 1955.

In the earlier years the line started up in the iron ore mines at Saxnora and passed Farsarvet. The line follows a hilly and woody landscape. In general the line follows the glens of Holmströmmen and Norrbäckån. The railway terminates in the city Mohällarne, a small town and harbour situated on lake Storen. The lake itself could either be one of the big lakes with connection to the sea – or if you like a bay of the sea itself.

However, mining operations in Saxnora ceased in the 1920's and the line was torn up to the railway junction Farsarvet. Farsarvet is just a small village on the main line between Ålbro and Valnäs. However the Railway Company still uses its original signature – Saxnora Mohällarne Järnväg (SMJ) also known as Ekensholmsbanan.

The area is a typical mining district with old traditions and highly specialised industries. Businesses are dominated by mining and forestry. Farming in the area is more for household purposes, but there are some bigger estates, especially in Mohällarne.

In the district and the vicinity there are several large iron ore formations. Both phosphorous and magnetic iron ore are found. The biggest iron mines are Lövdalafältet (Sw. -fält Eng. field), Ålbrofältet, Carlbergsfältet and Utmålbergsfältet (all names are fictitious but typical Swedish village names in this district). Besides that you could earlier find many smaller mines. However, today (remember it is still September 1955) the mining is concentrated to the fields just named.

The rich ore formations, the vast forests and the many small waterfalls all together gave birth to several foundries and hammers. In the 1870's you could still see at nearly every stream the flames from the blast furnaces or hear the hammers thumping. Nowadays all industry connected to iron are concentrated to Västanå and Bångfors.

The forests formed the base to extensive wood and cellulose industries such as saw, joinery, paper and pulp mills. In the 30's, during the great depression, most of the small units disappeared from the market. Nevertheless, in the small village of Ramsbo you can find a steam powered sawmill which is still in production.

Since the early times all products from the area have shipped out from the Mohällarne harbour which is located on lake Storen. Today you will find quite a modern harbour installation for iron ore, coal oil, forest products and general cargo. The harbour has a capacity of handling ships up to 5000 tons dead weight.

In the middle of the 19th century all land borne transports were carried out by cart loads drawn by horses, during the winter they used sledges. In this way the ore was transported from the mines to the blast furnace and the different iron products (e.g. bar iron, pig iron) were transported down to Mohällarne quays where the officials weighed and stamped the goods.

During a cold winter day you could hear the jingle of the sleigh bells and the shouting from the horsemen in the forests. A busy day you could count up to one hundred charcoal sledges approach the storehouse in Bångfors. Part of the horsemen's salary was paid in vodka. There was certainly bustle around the factory buildings in those days.

The Bångfors canal was constructed between 1850 and 1865. The greater part of the canal used the widened and dredged stream of Norrbäcksån. The canal made transport from the mills along Norrbäckån much easier. Besides that the small town Ekensholm had direct communication by steamboat with the capital Stockholm and the business in Ekensholm noticed a remarkable boom.

From the middle of the 1860's strong and powerful businessmen discussed the need for a completing transport system to the shipping. The new railway system was already in use in several parts of the country. This might be a good solution for transport of iron ore from Saxnora down to the blast furnace plants at Västanå and then further on to lake Eken and the harbour at Ekensholm. Successful economical negotiations and hard labour completed the line to Ekensholm 1878. Ten tears later, 1888, the line had reached the end – the terminal at Mohällarne. Good conditions for a rational iron handling had now been possible by the railway.

There were other railways in the area. One of them is the North Central line (opened 1887) passing through places such as Hedköping, Ålbro and Farsarvet up to Västanå at the northern end. Another line is the VLVj (Västanå, Lövdala, Valnäs Järnväg, opened 1896). The last one was an important link to the rich iron mines at Lövdala. Ore transport from there were for a long time a main part of the traffic on SMJ. Earlier there were some narrow gauge lines with vehicles pulled by horses or small steam locos. Those lines were of little commercial importance. From 1924 a joint operation between the standard gauge railways in the area started and lasted until 1938.

In order to avoid the fate of nationalisation the board of SMJ decided the railway company should try harder to connect to the industrial sector and other important user groups. Besides that the board decided to raise the standard of the line up to the level of Statens Järnvägar (SJ). This included not only technical standards but also the service level to the passengers and not to be forgotten - working conditions for the employees. For this purpose the company Trafikaktiebolaget Norra Bergslagen was founded (~ North Mining-traffic Company Ltd). The company consisted of the railway company (SMJ) including the harbour in Mohällarne, The Lövdala Mining Company, and the Västanå Works including Bångfors Works and the shipping company Polstiernan (Polar star).

Service to the customers increased with more passenger departures daily. A joint operation started with SJ about the fares and timetables. Finally the line itself received necessary maintenance and considerable improvements were made. For instance the roadbed was improved, the bridges were reinforced, the rails were changed to heavier types and axle pressure could consequently be set to 20 tons. The maximum speed could be raised to 90 km/h. An automatic block system was installed along the line. All those activities gave to result that the threat of nationalisation was eliminated – at least for the moment.

The other two railways mentioned earlier (Hedköping - Ålbro - Farsarvet and Västanå - Valnäs) were nationalised 1946 and incorporated in the SJ (the Swedish State Railways). SMJ is today run in co-operation with SJ (the 124^th traffic section) but SMJ is trafficed as an independent unit. Later the main line of SJ was electrified and today (September 1955!) there is a double track main line between Hedköping and Farsarvet.