Bahnstrecke Kolmården–Virå

Kolmården–Virå Railway Line (Nunnebanan)(Narrow-Gauge)

Bahnstrecke Kolmården–Virå

The Kolmården–Virå railway line, also known as Nunnebanan, was a narrow-gauge railway line in Sweden. It had a track width of 600 millimetres.

Kolmården–Virå Railway History

The reason for the construction of the railway line was the extensive forestry business that had occurred between 1898 and 1902 in the region around Björkvik and Kila in Södermanland County. The trees on an area of ​​around 3,000 hectares had to be cut down and transported away. The nearest loading port at Bråviken was more than two Swedish miles (about 21 km) away. The nun butterfly or in Swedish: Nunnefjärilen – Lymantria monacha, attacked the damaged wood, which is why the railway was popularly known as Nunnebanan.

Aktienbolaget Stafsjö järnväg

The owner of the lands in Stafsjö and Virå, being Fredrik Enhörning, therefore proposed building a railway from the Sandvikens lastageplats loading point in Kolmården at Bråviken via Stafsjö Bruk to Övre Virå. He applied for a concession for the line, it was to be an electric narrow-gauge railway with a track width of 600 mm. The concession was granted on 30 November 1899.

In 1900 he founded a joint-stock company called Aktiebolaget Stafsjö järnväg with G. De Broen and OF Kugelberg. The registered capital was 157,000 krone and the first chairman of the company was Fredrik Enhörning. The engineer Henry Browall calculated the cost of building the line at 343,000 krone.

Kolmården–Virå Railway Rolling Stock

Number  Name      Type                           Manufactuer                       Fabr.-  Num./       Notes

1    STAFSJÖ               Tenderlok   1' B 1'     Motala Verkstad, Motala       271      1901 ausgemustert 1941
2    VIRÅ                     Tenderlok   1' B 1'    Motala Verkstad, Motala       272      1901   1919 verkauft an A/S Björkåsen Gruber, Ballangen (Norwegen), 1965 an Östra Södermanlands Järnväg
3    KOLMÅRDEN      Tenderlok    1' C 1'    Orenstein & Koppel, Berlin   7767    1914    1940 an Munkedals Järnväg, dort Nr. 5, ausgemustert 1955
2"                                Tenderlok   D           Orenstein & Koppel, Berlin   9129   1920  1934 von Anneberg–Ormaryds Järnväg, AOJ, 1940 an Höganäs, dort Nr. 12 (Umbau auf 760 mm), ausgemustert 1955

Kolmården–Virå Railway Overview

Kolmården–Virå Railway Route Length: 17.7km
Kolmården–Virå Railway Track Width: 600 mm ( narrow gauge )
Kolmården–Virå Railway Maximum Inclination: 33.33 ‰
Kolmården–Virå Railway Maximum Speed: 25km/h

Kolmården–Virå Railway Route Map

18       Vira
16       Virlångshult
           Krågvasken
13       Stavsjö Lake
           to the power plant
           Water glugging
10      Stavsjö bruk
7.5     Skjutgropen
7        Stavsjö
           Järna–Åby railway line
4.6     Long walks
4.3     to Nöden at Lövsjön
           Bränntorp
0.0     Kolmarden