Statens Jarnvagar 4-4-0 Locomotives in Sweden

Class Cb (Locobase 10796)

Data from "Cb-loken" in "Rullande Materiel", Historiskt om Svenska Jarnvagar, on the web at [], last accessed 12 May 2018. See also "A Swedish Passenger Locomotive", Railroad & Engineering Journal, Vol LXII [62], No 5 (Vol 2, new series), (May 1888), pp. 219-222. (Translation of a French-language article from the Revue General des Chemins de Fer.) Boiler pressure is an estimate.

At the time they entered service in 1886, these were the biggest passenger engines yet on the Swedish State Railway system. Their names were Ellida, Hervara, Signhild, Valkyrie, and Veroandi. The driving axles were closely spaced, only allowing enough space for the front end of a sharply sloped firebox. Because the link motion eccentrics were mounted on the leading axle, their arms were quite short. On the other hand, the leading truck had quite a generous wheelbase.

The firebox possessed a grate consisting of 15 bars arranged in a "sort of staircase inclined at 28 degrees." Editor Matthias N Forney explained that the shape, slope, and abundant air supply over the grate was necessitated by the indifferent quality of the Swedish coal which then made up half of any tender's supply and would soon grow to 80%. As much as 20% of the load would consist of cinder.

Forney, the REJ's well-known editor, found the spark-arresting collar fitted to the base of the stack quite a novelty: "To American eyes the whole arrangement seems very much like one of our diamond stacks turned upside down, with the cone at the bottom of the stack instead of the upper end. It is said, however [Forney acknowledged] to give very good results."

"In actual service the engines first built of this pattern run between Malmo and Nassjo, making the distance from Malmo to Stockholm, which is 384 miles, in 14 1/2 hours, with 13 stops. The average speed, making no allowance for the time lost in stopping, is about 26 1/2 miles an hour, the usual train consisting of 12 carriages and wagons, weighing in all about 130 tons. In the summer season, however, the train is sometimes increased to 15 carriages weighing 157 tons.

The writer noted that setting that average pace required bursts of speed to anywhere from 31 to 37 mph. is necessary at various points of an ordinary run, in order to make time, to reach a speed varying from 31 to 37 miles an hour. Note that the upper speed limit on this railway was 46 mph; one or two of them reached 50 mph. Engines of this class had posted an average mileage of about 2,600 miles in winter and 3,700 in summer.

Overall, Forney reported, "These engines have done excellent service, and since they were built have proved themselves easy upon the track and steady running engines ; they pass around curves, of which there are many on the line, with great facility."

All of this may have been true, yet the SJ's procurement of this class stopped at five. The boiler couldn't make enough steam. The next class--Cc--proved to have the right amount and would enter volume production; see Locobase 5836. In addition, this quintet would be upgraded to Cc standards.

Class Cc (Locobase 5836)

This Eight-wheeler represented a passenger-engine class that first entered Swedish service in 1886. Data from . See also "Eight-wheeled Passenger Locomotive for the Royal Swedish State Railroad, American Engineer & Railroad Journal (AERJ). Volume 69, No 12 (14 November 1895), pp.524-525.

This design seems small and underpowered compared to many other Eight-wheelers of the time, yet it represented a significant improvement in passenger power over the five Cbs described in Locobase 10796

In the course of outlining the design's features, the anonymous writer picturesquely describes the spark arrestor at the stack base as "a collar something like an Elizabethan ruff without the tucks." He also notes that the method of equalization winds up putting more weight on the rear driving axle than on the front.

Out of a total of 79 locomotives, Nohab built all but 12, delivering the first of its 65 in 892 and the last in 1903. Motala delivered 4 in 1899 and completed the class with 8 more in 1903. In addition, the SJ also upgraded the five Cbs beginning in 1903.

Owning seven dozen of the same class led the SJ to modify some to investigate various alternatives. Cc 535 was converted to compound working on the Golsdorf system (for which see, e.g., Locobase 1196); it was later superheated. Cc 735 received the unusual Brotan boiler (see, e.g., Locobase 1580) in 1909 and only surrendered it in 1914. Five engines--Cc 528, 550, 614, 668, and 675--tested with peat-burning fireboxes between 1917 and 1933.

Over half the class was superheated begining in 1920; see Locobase 20374. The others were scrapped in beginning in the 1920s in finishing in the mid-1930s.

NB: The direct heating surface (including the firebox heating surface) is an estimate calculated by subtracting the calculated tube heating surface from the reported total evaporative heating surface.

Class Cd (Locobase 20374)

Data from "Statens JSrnvSgar 1856-1906", table reproduced by Stig Lundin at [], no longer available; and Wikipedia at []), last accessed 12 May 2018.

After struggling with ever-increasing train weights, the SJ converted over half of the large Cc class of Eight-wheelers to superheated boilers. In an unusual variation on usual practice, the SJ shops kept the original slide valves.

The update added about a decade and a half to the engines' lifetimes. In 1933-1937, the Stockholm - Nynäs Järnväg (SNJ) bought Cd 419, 562 and 747 while the Varberg - Borås - Herrljunga Järnväg (VBHJ) took the 618, 621 and 744.

More than half of the class were scrapped in 1930-1936. In the years 1933-1937, Cd 419, 562 and 747 were sold to SNJ and 618, 621 and 744 to VBHJ. By 1942, the VBHJ had closed and the locomotives returned to the SJ where they joined the remaining 16 in taking a new C class designation. They were retired by 1950.