Älmhult-Olofström Railway

Älmhult-Olofström Railway

Älmhult-Olofström Railway has no passenger traffic. Green Cargo runs freight trains to and from Volvo's factory in Olofström. On weekdays, several trains run, pulled by T44 or Td, and many of the heavy container trains are pulled by double locomotives. The trains go directly to Olofström-Alvesta, where electric locomotives take over the further transport to Gothenburg.

In addition, freight trains run with scrap metal from Volvo's factory.

Älmhult-Olofström Railway Early History

Sölvesborg - Olofström - Älmhult's railway opened in 1901 for public traffic. The same year was built station. Then one and one-half storey station houses were built in wood. The railway was founded in 1942. At the end of the 1950s, the station house was replaced with a new building east of the track. The station and the entire rail year are adapted to industrial implementation including Swedish steel pressing, sheet printing, enamelling works, wood wool factory, saw, mill and power plant. Passenger traffic was laid down in 1984 and the Bandel Sölvesborg - Olofström was demolished. Today, the bandel is operated Olofström - Älmhult with freight trains from Volvo to Gothenburg and Ghent and train with scrap from Volvo of Stena Metall.

Älmhult-Olofström Railway Railway Route

The railway starts from Älmhult (Äh, 0 km) on the Södra stambanan. In the station yard, SOEJ had two tracks furthest to the east that ended at the gable of the station building. The tracks still remain in a truncated state. The track turns to the southeast and after a few kilometers you pass Fählult (4 km) and Stränghult (6 km), both of which had stations with, among other things, peat unloading. Despite the fact that the railway partly runs in Skåne, the landscape is rather Smålandish: undulating spruce forest with the occasional clearing.

In Hökön (Hkö, 10 km) there was the incomparably largest peat station at SOEJ. The peat was mined on Vakö bog a few kilometers away and a peat powder factory was built at the bog, which had its own track from the factory to the station. The steam locomotive MLJ 1 was used as traction power. Operations continued with some interruptions until the end of the 1940s. The area around the railway is dominated today by a sawmill. The railway continues past Kärraboda (14 km) and Duvhult (19 km) where peat was also loaded, but all sidings are now demolished.

Two kilometers from Älmhult is Lönsboda (21 km), one of the larger towns along the track. The station was the last rendezvous station on the line and was decommissioned in the 1980s. The beautifully yellow painted station house remains. A narrow-gauge railway ran from the station to the quarries in Hägghult and Björkeröd until 1933. The line was called the "Pig Line" in popular speech because it was thought that the steam locomotive that pulled the trains sounded like a squealing pig.

The station house in Gylsboda (26 km) burned down in 1954, but the goods warehouse remains, as does the loading dock with the increasingly rusty stone cranes. At the beginning of the 20th century, the station had an extensive loading of black granite. Just to the east of the railway is the now water-filled quarry and in the forest next to it you can find remains of the tracks that were used to transport scrap rock.

In Esseboda (28 km) there was a stop at the time of passenger traffic. In Vilshult (35 km) the station building has been demolished. The railway here runs beautifully along some small lakes.

A few kilometers before the entrance to Olofström (Of, 42 km) a track turns off to Volvo's upper workshop, which is at a height above the rest of Volvo's facilities in Olofström. The branching point is called Kullan (Kul, 34 km). Both the community and the station are dominated by the factory - the yard is completely fenced off as it is effectively part of the factory area. A road bridge crosses the railway yard. Today's station building replaced an older building in the 1950s that had to be demolished when Volvo needed to expand.

The railway ends approximately one kilometer south of the station in Olofström. The embankment towards Sölvesborg is partly used as a cycle path. The course went via Jämshög, Näsum and Axeltorp, among others.

Älmhult-Olofström Railway 19th Century History

At the end of the 19th century, Örkenedsbygden on the border between Skåne, Småland and Blekinge was still poor and undeveloped. Communications consisted of a few bad roads and plans for a railway in the area were warmly received. Eagerly encouraged by the company Svensk Stålpressnings AB in Olofström - what would later become the Volvo Olofströmsverken - the district's governing body decided to apply for a concession for a track from Älmhult on the Södra stambanan to Sölvesborg on the Blekinge Kustbana.

Älmhult-Olofström Railway Granite Transport

In 1901, the 72 kilometer long Sölvesborg-Olofström-Älmhult Railway (with the signature SOEJ, Älmhult was still spelled Elmhult) was opened after three years of work. From the start, transporting stone became an important task for the track. In the forests around the railway there were quantities of diabase (black granite) and quarries were taken up in many places. The largest unloading station was Gylsboda south of Lönsboda.

The author Harry Martinsson, who lived here as a child, gives this colorful description in the book Nesslorna blomma:

"Men in top hats grew out of the ground. Wherever the children went to play, abysmal quarries opened up black and teeming with men with dynamite in their hands. Their mouths were filled with oaths, songs, and mighty assurances. They drilled iron clubs into the rock: beat them down with sledgehammers and then they shouted and huddled together in the pass. That's how it was every day, all day, the landscape was hollowed out. "

Älmhult-Olofström Railway Overview

Älmhult-Olofström Railway Traffic: Freight traffic
Älmhult-Olofström Railway Opened: 1901
Älmhult-Olofström Railway Track Width: 1435 mm
Älmhult-Olofström Railway Length: 42 km
Älmhult-Olofström Railway Double Track: No
Älmhult-Olofström Railway STAX: D2 - 22.5 tons
Älmhult-Olofström Railway Electrified: No
Älmhult-Olofström Railway Remote Blocking: No
Älmhult-Olofström Railway ATC: No
Älmhult-Olofström Railway Traffic System: M
Älmhult-Olofström Railway Speed: Up to 70 km/h