Steam-engines
Emfors
Manufacturer
Type
To no./year
Previous owner name/number
To Ohs
Weight
Axis sequence
Saechiche MF
Brigade
4183/1919
Emsfors Mill 2
1970
13000kg
D
The association's first steam locomotive was the brigade locomotive "Emsfors". The locomotive was named on the Ohsabanan because the locomotive came from the paper mill at Emsfors. The brigade locomotives come from Germany where they belonged to the German army's Heeresfeldbahnen, HF, during World War I and operated all kinds of supply lines behind the fronts. More than 2,500 of them were built by several different manufacturers. After the war, the remaining locomotives were sold as surplus equipment to many different nations.
Our locomotive came to Sweden and the Emsfors mill in 1923 together with a sister locomotive that was donated to Östra Södermanlands Järnväg, ÖSlJ, in Mariefred in 1969. We picked up the locomotive in Emsfors on September 23, 1970 and loaded the locomotive onto a truck trailer for transport to the narrow gauge locomotive shed in Vetlanda.
Here the locomotive was to be made ready for operation by the members of the association. The following year, in 1971, it was inaugurated on the Ohsabanan line. The locomotive arrived at Ohs bruk on June 5, 1971, and now there was a parking space prepared in the old paper magazine. The inaugural run with passengers took place at midsummer 1971.
The locomotive has undergone many repairs and improvements over the years. The most recent was in 2005-2006 when a new boiler was installed.
was manufactured by Masma in Mariestad. At the same time, the wheels were rebuilt so that the original hollow axles (axles 1 and 4) were removed and replaced with solid axles. The locomotive was also restored to an exterior condition close to original.
Emsfors has been an invaluable traction force and is historically correct since Ohsbruk itself owned two locomotives of this type. Unfortunately, they were scrapped long before our association was formed. The locomotive has retained its original color, which is dark green. The steam boiler, however, is painted black.
Text: Lars-Erik Gustavsson
German Locomotive
Manufacturer
Type
To no./year
Previous owner name/number
To Ohs
Weight
Axis sequence
Orenstein & leash
Brigade
8338/1917
German Reichsbahn 99 33 10
1983
13000kg
D
Private man Hans Näckdal bought a brigade locomotive from the East Germans
state railways, Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1976. His intention was to use the locomotive on a circular track, built on his property in Mattmar. But with its long wheelbase with four axles, the locomotive was unsuitable for the circular track. A swap deal was then made in 1983 where Ohsabanan received the brigade locomotive (DR 99 3310) and Hans Näckdal received the two-axle steam locomotive Smedjebackens valsverk no. 7, but which had first been renovated to a running condition in Ohs bruk.
The locomotive was named the German locomotive, and is the second locomotive on the Ohsabanan with this name. The mill also owned a brigade locomotive with this name. The locomotive was put into operation and has been in operation in various stages since then. Major work has been done on the steam boiler. The locomotive has very good traction and good running characteristics, which makes it a near ideal locomotive for our passenger trains. The locomotive looks externally as it did in service with the Deutsche Reichsbahn.
Unfortunately, the locomotive suffered a serious breakdown in August 2019. A wheel axle broke off while being driven by a passenger train. No one was injured, but the locomotive's axles and machinery were badly damaged. After a quick decision, all the wheel axles were sent to a specialist company in Žamberk in the Czech Republic. There, two new wheel axles were manufactured, all wheels were turned and the main bearings were renovated with new bearing surfaces. At the same time, a long series of repair works have been carried out at Ohs mill.
Text: Lars-Erik Gustavsson
Polish Locomotive
Manufacturer
Type
To no./year
Previous owner name/number
To Ohs
Weight
Axis sequence
MBA (O&K)
120hp
13584/1944
PKP Ty-3 195
1975
C+tender
On Saturday, December 6, 2025, we ran a Santa train pulled by the "Polish locomotive". It was 50 years ago today that the locomotive was driven under its own power from Bor to Ohs Bruk.
The locomotive was built by MBA (formerly Orenstein & Koppel) in 1944 in a series of five locomotives for a sugar mill in Zichenau (Ciechanów) in East Prussia. After 1945, this territory was transferred to Poland. The locomotive was taken over by PKP and served on several Polish 600 mm lines. The locomotive's last station in Poland was in Białosliwié, where it was decommissioned in the spring of 1975.
After a train digger trip in Poland in 1974, the Polish State Railways was contacted
PKP with a question about the possibility of purchasing a steam locomotive for 600 mm gauge. They offered us two alternative locomotives for sale. In August 1975 a small delegation traveled down to Białosliwie, which was the main station of the 600 mm network. Here, the locomotive Ty-3 no. 195 was inspected and we found the locomotive both interesting and affordable.
The purchase was made in the autumn and the locomotive and tender arrived in December.
on an open Polish standard gauge carriage to Bor station. At that time the station was still manned (by Ohsabanan's traffic manager Sture Bengtsson) and open to freight traffic, including for Ohs Bruk AB.
The locomotive arrived on SJ's local freight train on December 4, 1975. On Friday, December 5, it was lifted off the wagon using a mobile crane. The lift went well and by 2 p.m. the locomotive and tender were connected on the quayside in Bor.
Now the locomotive was just going home to Ohs Bruk. At that time, there was no powerful diesel locomotive available, so we decided to take a chance and drive the locomotive home under our own power. On Saturday, December 6, the locomotive's boiler was filled and the first wood burner was lit. After a slow firing, the pressure gradually rose. While the firing was going on, we took the opportunity to connect the locomotive. The connecting rods had been dismantled in Poland. At the same time, in the morning, a relief train departed from Ohs Bruk with the small diesel locomotive Eds Bruk and Knallhatten as traction. That work team took the opportunity to clear all road junctions and remove any obstacles along the line.
After a few test runs on the quay and the railway yard in Bor, we steamed slowly towards Ohs Bruk with the auxiliary train at a safe distance behind us. Gösta Jonasson maneuvered the locomotive with a sure hand and I had the honor of operating the coal shovel.
We made several technical stops along the line to investigate possible overheating, but everything went smoothly. From Hösjömo I got to try driving the locomotive. It was slowly getting dark and when we arrived at Ohs Bruk it was dark. On the approach straight we were saluted with some firecrackers that were laid out on the track. The locomotive was backed onto the then workshop track by the old paper magazine and the lighthouse was allowed to burn out. We all exclaimed in a joint "hurray", and congratulated ourselves on a job well done. On the evening of December 6, 1975, the locomotive had arrived at Ohs Bruk.
The locomotive was first renovated between 1976-78 and has since served in various rounds until now. A new tender was manufactured in 1988 after the old one was completely rusted through. In the 80s, the locomotive received a new tender when the old one had reached the end of its service life.
In 1994 the locomotive received a new set of tubes and was intended to be used for about 15 years, but already in 1996 the boiler showed signs of weakness, which is why the locomotive was taken out of service. A new steam boiler was therefore manufactured in 1999 by Masma in Mariestad. The locomotive was taken out of service in 2010 and has since been repaired at various stages until the autumn of 2019.
By then the locomotive had also been externally restored to the appearance it had when it arrived at the Ohsabanan Line in December 1975. Today it is the line's strongest locomotive and is used extensively in passenger trains. The locomotive is particularly suitable as a training machine as it has a spacious cabin for being a 600 mm locomotive.
In 2025, the locomotive will have been in our possession for 50 years. That is considerably longer than the Polish State Railways, which owned the locomotive for 30 years.
Text: Lars-Erik Gustavsson
Smedjebacken
Manufacturer
Type
To no./year
Previous owner name/number
To Ohs
Weight
Axis sequence
Orenstein & leash
40hp
11970/1929
Smedjebackens Valsverk 6
1977
7500kg
B
This locomotive was manufactured by Orenstein & Koppel in 1929 for Smedjebackens Valsverk, where it received locomotive no. 6 and served well with several similar locomotives until 1959 when it was decommissioned. In 1965, the locomotive underwent a minor refurbishment at the rolling mill's industrial school and was handed over to our colleagues Östra Södermanlands Järnväg in Mariefred in 1967.
They had the locomotive until 1977 when we at Ohsabanan acquired it through a swap deal. In Ohs there was already a similar locomotive, Smedjebackens Valsverk no. 7 (O&K 6770/1914), this locomotive was renovated in the early 1980s and then exchanged for No. 3 "German locomotive" and can be seen today up in Smedjebacken.
In the late 1980s, the dismantling and renovation of our "Smedjebacken" also began; unfortunately, the renovation stopped due to various circumstances.
But in the late 1990s, a happy bunch of young people took over the project to get the locomotive together so that it could be shown off at least. But shame on the one who gives up, after new manufacturing of many parts such as regulator, valve rack etc. the locomotive was able to roll out of the workshop under its own power one day in June 2004.
Today, the locomotive is almost complete but is not used in regular traffic as it is a bit weak and has too little storage for our long track.
Avyttrade ånglok
Bild | Nr | Namn | Tillverkare | Typ | Tillv nr/år | Föregående ägare namn/nr | Till Ohs | Vikt | Axelföljd | Från Ohs | Nuvarande ägare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3 | Smedjebacken | Orenstein & Koppel | 6770/1914 | Smedjebackensvalsverk | 1974 | B | 1983 | Lokstallet i smedjebacken | |||
1 | Mormor | L. Zobel | ? | 118/1910 | Böda Skogsjärnväg | 1970 | 8000Kg | D | 1990 | Böda Skogsjärnväg |