The Locomotive Museum
Throughout history, humans have traveled beyond their home regions. Initially on foot and by boat, people later tamed horses, allowing for travel with larger loads.
Then came the invention of the steam engine. Many tried to create a steam-powered vehicle, but it was George Stephenson from Newcastle, England, who first succeeded in building a steam-powered machine.
Before Stephenson’s attempts, the Frenchman Cugnot had, in 1770, tested a heavy wagon powered by a steam engine. The endeavor ended when he crashed into a wall, causing it to collapse. Similarly, the Englishman Murdock attempted a ride with a steam-powered carriage. However, before he could climb aboard, the carriage set off on its own. He tried to chase it but soon heard cries for help nearby. Running toward the sound, he found the village priest trembling by the roadside, believing the puffing machine to be a dragon.
Sweden was relatively late in building railways. It was only in the mid-1800s that the country began constructing a railway network. Many were skeptical of this new method of travel using a “fire machine,” fearing it might set the forests ablaze if the trains passed through wooded areas.
It was therefore unsurprising that an Englishman, Ernest Cassel from London, became a key advocate for railways in Sweden. He had purchased all 200 mines in Grängesberg and wanted trains to transport the iron he planned to sell worldwide. Cassel founded TGOJ, Trafikaktiebolaget Grängesberg-Oxelösunds Järnvägar (The Grängesberg-Oxelösund Railway Company), establishing a railway from Grängesberg to the port of Oxelösund, which offered a suitable harbor for shipping iron by sea.
By the late 1800s, TGOJ had acquired three railway segments: the Frövi–Ludvika line, opened for traffic in 1873; the Frövi–Köping line; and the Oxelösund–Flen line, opened in 1878.
This development made TGOJ a railway connecting Ludvika via Grängesberg, Frövi, Arboga, Eskilstuna, Flen, and Nyköping to Oxelösund, with branch lines to Köping and Kolbäck.
The Locomotive Museum in Grängesberg is located at the ore yard, featuring signal towers and locomotive sheds built between 1929 and 1930.
The collection includes numerous locomotives and railway wagons of varying ages, including six steam locomotives.
The oldest TGOJ locomotive, from 1917, represents Sweden’s first three-cylinder steam locomotive type, used in regular traffic until the 1950s.
Turbinlok No. 71, model M3t, built in 1930, is the only operational turbine locomotive in the world. A total of approximately 30 turbine locomotives were built worldwide. In Sweden, six of these locomotives were built between 1917 and 1936, with three delivered to TGOJ. These three were used in regular service until 1953.
Facts
Train and railway history. The Locomotive Museum in Grängesberg is an industrial heritage museum. It is run by a nonprofit museum association dedicated to preserving and showcasing railway equipment from various TGOJ lines in its original environment.
The museum houses the steam locomotive OFWJ No. 8, built in 1876.
Open during summer or by appointment.
