About
Stockholm- Roslagens Railways Preservation Society (SRJmf)
and
Upsala- Lenna Railway (ULJ)

with some history about the 891 mm (2 ft 11 ") railways in the "Roslagen" area.

	Rimbo station in the 1890s: Engine Stockholm- Rimbo Ry (SRJ) n:o 3 ”Rimbo” (!) is ready with a train to Stockholm. This engine, constructed by NOHAB in1884, is now preserved by the National Railway Museum, and two of the passenger cars are preserved by the SRJmf society and in use on todays Upsala- Lenna Railway (ULJ). Photo from Bengt Ljunghs collection.

The SRJmf society runs trains on the line Uppsala east railway station- Länna- Faringe under the name "Upsala- Lenna Railway" (ULJ). This is a historical name. The line between Uppsala and Länna, the oldest of all 891 mm railways in the region, was built to provide the ironworks in Länna with a needed connection to the standard gauge network and was opened in 1876. Two years later the Dannemora- Harg Railway (DHJ), also 891 mm, was taken into use further north. That railway was built to connect the mines in Dannemora with the harbour at Hargshamn.

In 1884, ULJ was linked with the coast by the Lenna- Norrtelje Railway (LNJ). The following year that line was connected through Rimbo with Stockholm by the Stockholm- Rimbo Railway (SRJ) and an ”east railway station” in Stockholm was built.

SRJ bought LNJ in 1905 and ULJ in 1908. In 1909 the companys name was changed to Stockholm- Roslagens Railways which enabled them to keep their signature (SRJ) and it was only necessary to renumber the former LNJ and ULJ rolling stock. Roslagen is the unofficial but historical name for the coastal district north east of Stockholm.

SRJ was also involved in the building of a new line northwards from Rimbo which was finished in Hallstavik 1915. And in 1920 an old dream came true when the DHJ (then a subsidiary of SRJ) was connected with the rest of the system by the Faringe- Gimo line.

Another major project which had been going on since 1895 was the electrification of the lines (including branch lines) northwards from Stockholm. That work was finished in 1949 when Rimbo- Norrtälje was electrified, so from that year all lines south and east of Rimbo were electrified.

But by that time, railways -including the SRJ network- had begun to decline in importance. SRJ/ DHJ was nationalised in 1951, and eight years later the network was amalgamated with the Swedish National Railways (SJ). During the early 1950s, all three freight only branch lines to DHJ (to Lövstabruk, Ramhäll and Fagervik by Lake Vällen) had been closed down.

In 1960, passenger traffic ceased on the Dannemora- Harg and Faringe- Gimo lines as well as all the traffic from Stockholm’s East station to Engelbrektsplan near the centre of Stockholm. That line went along streets just like tram lines do, and for this reason freight trains were never run there and steam engines not regulary.

Six years later, another of the electrified branch lines close to Stockholm, Stocksund- Långängstorp was closed down. That line was initially built with standard gauge (!), but in 1934 converted to 891 mm for practical reasons, as can be imagined. Passenger traffic also ceased on the line Uppsala- Rimbo- Hallstavik in the same year (= 1966), and in 1969, only twenty years after its electrification, the line Rimbo- Norrtälje was completely abandoned. Freight traffic also ceased south of Rimbo during that year.

A couple of other lines had, however, quite busy freight traffic. The Dannemora mines still exported a lot of iron ore through Hargshamn, and heavy trains with transporter wagons took freight to and from the big paper mill in Hallstavik via Uppsala- Rimbo.

For this reason a decision was made to convert the former DHJ to standard gauge. The conversion was completed in 1970. Then all traffic ceased on the line Faringe- Gimo as it now had no purpose as a connecting line for the service of rolling stock in Rimbo and Stockholm (the workshops at Mörby). Discussions also began about building a completely new standard gauge line from Hargshamn to Hallstavik, but more about that later........

The SRJmf was formed in 1968 with the main purpose of saving rolling stock from the SRJ/ DHJ network for excursion traffic.

SJ Gp-class no 3132 (Motala 1950), the SRJmf societys first steam engine, bought in 1969 and in use between 1974 and 1985. Photo from Faringe in 1975 by Owe Danneskog

Initially, we were based in Stockholm, but as SJ in the early 1970s started to construct the new standard gauge line from Hargshamn to Hallstavik, the society realized that the Uppsala- Rimbo- Hallstavik line would no longer be used for freight traffic. This would give the society the opportunity to start traffic on a line of our own, hopefully on the scenic line close to Uppsala.

With the aid of the City of Uppsala, such traffic could start during the summertime weekends in 1974 when freight trains did not run. Three years later the Hargshamn- Hallstavik line was opened and all traffic ceased on the Uppsala- Rimbo- Hallstavik line. The society could then take over the line Uppsala- (Länna)- Faringe as its "own", with the City of Uppsala as owner of the track and with the former junction Faringe serving as headquarters. The society also had some workshop facilities in Rimbo until 1981 even though the track between Rimbo and Faringe had been lifted in 1978.

Apart from the former DHJ (now standard gauge) , with its newly built continuation to Hallstavik, and ULJ, several of the electrified lines close to Stockholm are still very much in use for commuter traffic, which makes them the only remaining narrow gauge railways in Sweden, with regular, commercial traffic all year round!

Todays trains on the ”Roslagen line”: A modern X10P class E.M.U at Kårsta in 1994. These commuter lines are nowdays operated by the Greater Stockholm Transport Authority and their contractor ”Roslagståg”. Photo by Lars Granström.

Discussions between SJ and the Greater Stockholm Transport Authority (SL) about tariffs and general traffic issues had the result that in 1972 SL took over the remaining lines with passenger traffic, i e the lines south of Rimbo. However SL closed the branch line Djursholms Ösby- Eddavägen in 1976 and then in 1981, the former junction Rimbo lost all its railways when the Kårsta- Rimbo line was closed too.

During its last years, the line to Eddavägen had been "de-electrified" (= no power in the wires) and hence only diesel vehicles could be run there. Incidently, that fate had also befallen the Lindholmen- Kårsta- Rimbo line during a few years in the 1970s and the Rimbo- Norrtälje line during its last three years.

Things then looked very bad for the "Roslagen line", as SL calls its narrow gauge lines. SL had plans to replace the lines closest to Stockholm with underground traffic, and the rest with buses.

During the 1980s, however, the political climate changed in favour of railways including the "Roslagen line". A decision was made to rebuild the line Kårsta- Rimbo (but is still to be put into action) and big, previously neglected, support and maintence jobs were started on the track and electrical systems. Completely new rolling stock, e.m.u. cars with azycron motors from AEG, were ordered. That made it possible to retire the old rolling stock, the newest being from 1962 and the oldest from 1906!
Some of this stock has been scrapped, but most of the passenger cars were bought by preserved railways in Sweden with 891 mm gauge (including of course ULJ). There are still however four older e.m.u´s on the "Roslagen line" and these are avialable for excursions from Stockholm East Station.