A journey to Sweden, 1989: A few signals

Deutsche Version dieses Postings

Unfortunately, I do not know where I took most of the following photos. Anyway, much of the västra stamban (the "western trunk line") leads through large pine forests:

?, 17.7.1989

Somewhere, I took two photos entering a station. Green over green means "Drive with 40 km/h, next signal might show stop":

Home signals, ?, 17.7.1989

A typical location for dwarf signals is at the outermost points:

Dwarf signals, ?, 17.7.1989

The following picture shows the home signals of Hallsberg. Green over green over green at the left signal means "Drive with 40 km/h, expect to stop in short track":

Home signal, Hallsberg, 17.7.1989

The following enlargement shows the reason for the short route: The track is occupied by another train. To the left of the track, one can recognize two dwarf signals indicating "proceed":

Occupied track, Hallsberg, 17.7.1989

Unfortunately, a bracing cable made it into this photo of retired Da locomotives (a widely-used Swedish electric class) and a small class Z65 shunting locomotive:

Hallsberg, 17.7.1989

In some track, I saw the following rail fasteners which I have not seen anywhere else:

Rail fasteners, Hallsberg?, 17.7.1989

Another track was fastened by good old spikes:

Rail spikes, Hallsberg?, 17.7.1989

And finally, an Rc4:

Rc4 1107, Hallsberg?, 17.71989

A journey to Sweden, 1989: Centralapparat at Mariestad

Deutsche Version dieses Postings

My photos from Mariestad are limited to the "centralapparat", a small type of electromechanical interlocking which used mechanical locking only to prevent setting up conflicting routes. Here is the frame:

Interlocking, Mariestad, 17.7.1989

The following closeup of the panel shows a few details, some of which I do not understand:

• Not all points are moved by electric points machines—only the ones that are used for train routes in both positions. In Mariestad, these were (on the western side) points 2/17 (splitting the routes to tracks VI and VII) and points 8 (to tracks V and VI).
• The points' positions are indicated via small round lamps. The lighted bars near them are most probably the track circuits of the points.
• Even though no train route is set up, barriers V¹ seem to be closed: Lamp N ("ned", i.e. "low[ered]") is lighted, whereas at all other barriers the U indicator is on ("upp", i.e. "up").
• Lidköping had two starting signals (sort of an inner and an outer starter). Here, on the other hand, we have two home signals: C is the outer one, D the inner one, which presumably protects the points into the station's tracks.
• Near starter E, there are two dwarf signal symbols stacked above each other and marked E as well. Why are two of them needed, and how are (or is) the dwarf signal(s) reversed?
• A loading spur with ground-operated points locked by keys is drawn at the upper left corner and connected to the main track with an arrow. However, it is not really clear (at least for me) where this track is located.

Interlocking, Mariestad, 17.7.1989

The following picture, taken somewhat later, shows a locked route into track 6 (route d² VI, "Från Lugnås till spår VI"): The route lever at the lower left is turned, but there is no key inserted that would clear a signal (if I understand it correctly, the train director must be near the interlocking while a train signal is cleared):

Interlocking, Mariestad, 17.7.1989

This detail from the previous image shows various indicators (click opens it in full resolution):

• In track 6, a small arrow pointing to the right indicates the locked route d² VI;
• at points 4/19 and 10, there are additional lights indicating that the points are locked in the route (why is this necessary for points 10?—maybe all points that are traversed by any train route are always locked together ...);
• the (lower?) dwarf signal E shows a red light:

Interlocking, Mariestad, 17.7.1989

Here are the various switches and buttons for the left half of the station (again, click opens the image in full resolution):

• The topmost row contains two emergency stops, one for signal C, the other for both D and E. The next switch activates local control of barriers V¹ ("Lokalmanövrering" = "local control"). To its right, there are two switches for activating local control of points 2/17 and 8 ("Växel" = "points", "lokalmedgivande" = "local permit", "centralomläggning" = "central reversal"). The next switch permits the local reversal of a number of points and derails for various spurs ("Medgivande 4/19/SpVIII, 6/SpVII, SpI, 3/SpII, 5/SpIII").
• The second row contains only a single button for raising barriers V¹ ("V¹ Upp").
• The third row contains a switch to permit local control of the (farthest) barriers V⁴, then a stop switch for barriers V¹ ("V¹ Stopp"), and finally two buttons for moving points 2/17 and 8 to the normal position.
• The fourth row contains three buttons for lowering barriers V³, V², and V¹ ("Ned" = "down") and tow buttons for moving points 2/17 and 8 into the reversed position:

Interlocking, Mariestad, 17.7.1989

And here are the controls at the bottom:

• The bottommost controls are the route levers. For the incoming routes to tracks V, VI and VII, there are separate positions "Från Lugnås till spår ..." = "From Lugnås into track ...", whereas there is only one common position for all three outgoing routes ("till Lugnås från spåren V VI VII").
• Above the route levers, there are the locks for clearing the signals (it seems that stop signals are always cleared with keys of type K¹⁵).
• The round indicators above them seem to be mechanically moved by the keys.

Interlocking, Mariestad, 17.7.1989

The following pictures show two sets of points. At ground-operated points 10, one can see the (most probably electro-magnetic) blade lock for locking the blades for train routes. On the points lever, there is a lock which releases the key for derail VI if the points are reversed.

Points no. 10, Mariestad, 17.7.1989

This image shows the tips of the blades. The offset between the moving rod and the bolts in the blades, as well as the cover near the blade lock, indicate that the blades are pressed to the stock rails by blade locks. Nevertheless, the lever is mounted on two sleepers, and all parts are connected by heavy steel profiles:

Points no. 10, Mariestad, 17.7.1989

The next image shows a set of motor-driven points (probably no. 8, maybe no. 2). The point machine obviously uses inner blade locks, which requires a very stable connection to the stock rails so that a small distance between the closed blade and its stock rail can be guaranteed. Here, the heavy mounting is absolutely necessary:

Motor-driven points, Mariestad, 17.7.1989

Finally, here is a picture of a small shunting engine. Behind it, one can see a corner of the great station building—there are a few photos of this grandiose building on the internet:

SJ Z65 508, Mariestad, 17.7.1989

A journey to Sweden, 1989: Signalling a drawbridge at Lidköping

Deutsche Version dieses Postings

My first photo from Lidköping shows the Fiat class Y1 rail car:

SJ Y1 1271, Lidköping, 17.7.1989

The station building is built in typical Swedish style:

Station building, Lidköping, 17.7.1989

This photo from the western throat shows, directly ahead, our rail car on track 2. Another class Y1 is on track 1 on the right. The station building would be on the right, out of the picture. It is interesting that there are two double switches in the ladder track—in Austria and Germany, the necessary additional frogs would not have been accepted, whereas railways more influenced from Great Britain did not hesitate to use more of them. Moreover, Swedish authorities apparently did not consider it necessary to use separate points indicators—the weights on the points levers were probably deemed to be enough for pointing out the position. On the very right, one can see the locks used to transmit the position to the central interlocking, and additionally lock the points' keys:

Yard tracks, Lidköping, 17.7.1989

The line from Lidköping towards Herrljunga crosses a drawbridge. One can see the heavy counterweight here above the track, and a few signals:

• The starting signal Lkp E;
• a level crossing signal V indicating whether barriers are down;
• the bridge signal on the right side—the track panel we will see in a moment says that its name is BsI, but this is not shown on the signal itself.

Drawbridge and signals, Lidköping, 17.7.1989

At the station building, there was a typical Swedish small interlocking. In Swedish, they are called centrallås, meaning "central lock". As can be seen above, the points were reversed locally (klot växels, i.e. "ball points"—I assume because of the round weights at the points) and locked by keys:

Interlocking, Lidköping, 17.7.1989

The following picture shows an enlargement of the panel (click opens a readable image). On the left, one can see the home signal from Forshem. Below it is starting signal C. Towards Håkandorp, there are two starting signals: First, there is signal E, and then signal D past all the points (a sort of "outer starter"). Near E, one can see the drawbridge symbol (Bro = bridge), whose protecting signals BsI and BsII are located at the right side. Last, but not least, there is a series of level crossing, with indicator lamps U (Upp = up, barriers are open) and N (Ned = down, closed barriers):

Interlocking panel, Lidköping, 17.7.1989

Here is the right side of panel:

Interlocking, Lidköping, 17.7.1989

In the following image, one can see that the panel only contains two of the station's five tracks. Apparently, interlocking panels only depict tracks used for train routes. All other tracks are shown only to the nearest flank protection:

Interlocking, Lidköping, 17.7.1989

Here is a last picture of the complete interlocking panel (click opens it in full resolution, where one can read all labels):

Interlocking, Lidköping, 17.7.1989

This T43 had arrived with a short goods train, but it did not move while we were in Lidköping:

SJ T43 258, Lidköping, 17.7.1989

Outside the station, this SJ bus waited for passengers:

SJ bus, Lidköping, 17.7.1989

Finally, here is a picture that shows home signal Fhm 4/2 of the next station, Forshem:

Home signal Fhm 4/2, Forshem, 17.7.1989

A journey to Sweden, 1989: From Herrljunga towards Lidköping

Deutsche Version dieses Postings

The slight tilt adds additional elegance to this picture of SJ's Rc6 1412 with its train at Herrljunga:

SJ Rc6 1412, Herrljunga, 17.7.1989

With a Fiat rail car, we continued to Lidköping. The line leaves Herrljunga over a few steep crossings:

Herrljunga, 17.7.1989

Here are a few shots out of the rail car from the journey to Lidköping. The first two show a few maintenance cars of Sweden's "banverk" ("banverket" means the rail works; it has since been integrated into trafikverket, i.e. the traffic works, which is Sweden's national agency for all traffic networks and facilities):

Maintenance car of banverk, near Herrljunga, 17.7.1989

Maintenance cars of banverk, near Herrljunga, 17.7.1989

This view into the driver's cab of our Fiat Y1 is almost the same as the fourth one on this page, which explains (in Swedish) the ATC (Automatic Train Control) system. In contrast to that picture, mine does not show any speed indications—the line to Mariestad had not been equipped with ATC in 1989:

Driver's seat on Y1 1271, near Herrljunga, 17.7.1989

The ballast used for the line seems to be a quite fine-grained gravel:

Tracks, near Herrljunga, 17.7.1989

Here is a picture of the home signal Jps 3/2 of Järpås:

Line near Järpås, 17.7.1989

The following enlargement from the previous image shows a few more signals. Left to right, one can see:

• The cleared home signal;
• a speed sign for 100 km/h;
• then an indicator for the following level-crossing distant signal (V = "väg" = "way");
• and finally, the (blurred) three lights of that level-crossing distant signal.

(A click on the image shows it in full film resolution):

Signals near Järpås, 17.7.1989

A journey to Sweden, 1989: Alingsås

Deutsche Version dieses Postings

From Denmark to Sweden, we used the ferry to Gothenburg (Göteborg), and from there we took a suburban train to Alingsås, which had a very nice youth hostel in an old villa.

The first picture shows the class X10 railcar which brought us from Gothenburg to Alingsås. A short time before, a shower had come down, but now, the sun came out between the clouds:

SJ X10 3171, Alingsås, 16.7.1989

I have a single picture of the interlocking panel, which is unfortunately quite blurred. It is hard to see anything useful, but one can see that the signals are located on the left side of the tracks, in contrast to Germany and Austria and also Denmark:

Interlocking panel, traffic bureau, Alingsås, 16.7.1989

Some people wait for a fast train to Gothenburg, while the interurban sits at its platform:

SJ X10 3171, Alingsås, 16.7.1989

Here is the fast train:

SJ Rc6 1422, Alingsås, 16.7.1989

SJ Rc6 1422 and X10 3171, Alingsås, 16.7.1989

The crossing over the tracks is protected by barriers. The Rc6 is starting to pull its train out of the station:

SJ Rc6 1422, Alingsås, 16.7.1989

Here is starting signal A 2/13—already returned to stop—and shunting signal 2/13:

Starting signal A 2/13 and shunting signal 2/13, Alingsås, 16.7.1989

And finally, here's a picture of the station building:

Station building, Alingsås, 16.7.1989

A journey to Sweden, 1989: Signals and trains in Denmark

Deutsche Version dieses Postings

Here are a few photos taken from the train while travelling through Denmark. Of most, I do not know where I made them:

DSB MZ 1418, Denmark, 15.7.1989

Two dwarf signals—one has already fallen back, the second one is still cleared:

Dwarf signal, Denmark, 15.7.1989

Dwarf signal, Denmark, 15.7.1989

Two starting signals ("udkørselssignal")—the left one is cleared, the other one displays stop. The numbers below the signals indicate the assignment to tracks:

Denmark, 15.7.1989

"Accelerate to 100 km/h"—in the signal book, this is under the heading "standsignaler for hastighedsnedsættelse", which means "signs for speed reduction". But it is explained as "kør hurtigere" = "drive faster":

Speed sign, Denmark, 15.7.1989

Markers before a home signal—in contrast to the markers for distant signals in Germany and Austria, these ones count upwards: One diagonal rectangle means "1200 m to the home signal", two "800 m to the home signal", and three "400 m to the home signal":

Denmark, 15.7.1989

Far away, one can discern the home signal:

Denmark, 15.7.1989

... enlarged:

Denmark, 15.7.1989

The following photos are from Aarhus. The first one shows the bridge crossing the station tracks on the western side and the starting signal for track 4:

Starting signal, Aarhus, 15.7.1989

An elegant railcar, built in 1983, sits on a storage track (one can find detailed information about Danish rolling stock at www.jernbanen.dk):

DSB HHJ YM 35, Aarhus, 15.7.1989

MY 1119, 1108 and 1123 and MZ 1428 lying over:

Depot, Aarhus, 15.7.1989

And a final shot of shunting locomotive MH(II) 325:

DSB MH(II) 325, Denmark, 15.7.1989