Denmark National Railway Museum

During the Christmas break, my boyfriend C come over to Denmark. For the few of you who know C, you all know that this is a major feat. This is because C really really hates to fly, so it meant a lot to me when he come over to visit.

So while C was with me I thought it would be a good idea to go the Denmark National Railway Museum since C has some a family history with trains in the US.

We had to travel about 30 minutes by train to a town called Odense (pronounced Olens).  The railway museum was quite close to the actual train station by quite close I mean right next door.

In the infancy of the railways, train engines or horses were used for all shunting. This usually worked well but it was always difficult to pull the wagons up to the station on the steep harbor line in Århus.

The first shunting locomotives were quite small, with an upright boiler and not driver's cab. A shunting foreman once demonstrated their lack of traction by having a horse pull one of the "coffee-grinders' past the windows of the senior engineer, John Blair.

L 2 was saved for posterity thanks to the fact that it was used for many years as a stationary steam boiler. In 1928, it was rescued from oblivion and reconstructed to join its venerable friends in the future Railway Museum.

The oldest railway coaches were almost always built as compartment coaches - practically linked stagecoaches on shared wheels. The passengers were locked into their compartments when the train departed and got their tickets inspected through the windows.

BJ 665 was originally supplied with compartments for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class. In 1888 toilets were installed in the coach and a small saloon, which was mainly reserved for ladies on long journeys.

Denmark's great story teller, Hans Christian Anderson, tells in his memories how dreadful it was for him to travel in a railway coach without direct access to a toilet when his stomach was trying itself in knots from sheer excitement. Apart from that the author loved traveling by train - that was life itself!

The E machines were the largest express train locomotives in service with DSB, originally an abbreviation of Danske Statsbaner (Danish State Railways).

In 1937, DSB brought 11 Swedish steam locomotives (Swedish Class F). they were from 1914-1916 and had been scrapped after the introduction of electrically run trains on the Swedish railways. New, heavy steel carriages, higher speeds and an increase in traffic had created the need in the 1930s for higher locomotives in DSB. After considerable alterations, which included adapting the Swedish machines to right hand drive, they came into service with the liter designation E.

And so it was one of the new E-type machines that came to pull the train with the brand-new royal carriage with the Storstrøm Bridge was officially opened in September 1937.

Traffic continued to increase and during the years of the German occupation 1940-45, the need of motive power was enormous. DSB was highly satisfied with the E machines and since it was not possible to plan any new type of locomotive, Frichs' factories factories in Århus came to build a total of 25 new E-type machines between 1942 and 1950,  using the old Swedish drawings with only a few alterations.  E 994 belongs to this series.

The locomotives were built with a maximum performance of 1,500 hp and a top speed of 127 kph. The maximum speed in Denmark was set at 110 kph. The engines pulled both express trains and large through goods trains.

Towards 1970, DSB's steam locomotives were scrapped including the E-type machines.

A couple of the original Swedish machines have returned to Sweden and are owned by the railway museum in Gavle.

A couple of the Danish built E type machines are owned by the Danish Railway Museum: E 991 fromo 1947 is stationed in Randers and is used for veteran train rides, while E 994 is on show here at the museum.

E 994 carried out one of its last assignments on 24 January 1972, when it pulled the train carrying King Frederik IX's bier from Copenhagen to Roskilde. 

Diesel-electric locomotive MY 1112
NOHAB 1956

When the State Railways were to find a replacement for their steam locomotives after the war, the choice lay between electrically powered or diesel driven locomotives. The introduction of electrically run machines would be relatively costly because of the considerable expense involved in, among other things, setting up thousands of masts with cables as well as electrical equipment. So diesel engines were chosen sited.

DSB then ordered diesel locomotives of an American type (General Motors). The machines were to be built under licence by the Swedish factory Nydquist & Holm (NOHAB).

This type of locomotive was given the liter designation MY. The first locomotive, made in 1954, now runs in its original colours for DSB Museum Trains.

The principle underlying these diesel-electric locomotives is that a diesel engine powers an electric generator. This then supplies current to a number of traction motors, which in turn drive the wheels.

The locomotive has a V-shaped, 16-cylinder, two-stroke diesel engine, which intros version, produces 1,950 hp. There are 4 traction motors, Weight: 101.6 tons. Length from buffer to buffer: 18.9 metros. Max. speed: 133 kph.

In the 1954-65 period, a total of 59 of the Swedish/American MY locomotives wer made. For many years, they were an exceptionally stable motive power - for goods trains, regional trains and long-distance trains. Most of them have now been scrapped . A few have been sold to private Danish railway lines or to foreign railway companies.

In the early days of the railway, all points levers and signals were operated manually at the points. But by the end of the 1800s, the first centrally operated systems started to be put into service.

This allowed trains to be run far more efficiently with modest staffing, at the same time as significantly improving safety.

The first systems were purely mechanical. Signals and points levers were tripped using an ingenious system of wire works that were directly connected to handles and pulleys of the interlocking frame.

The yellow handles operate signals, the red operate points levers and the green operate the points-lever lock that makes sure the points levers are kept in the correct position.

As each handle was mechanically connected only one train at a time could be sent on the same track.

Model of section of the Great Belt Tunnel

Between Sprogø and Korsør the railway passes through a tunnel beneath the Geat Belt. The tunnel was built in 1988-96, is 8,024 metros long and consists of two separate tubes with a railway track in each. The two tubes are linked by 31 transverse tunnels that function both as emergency exits and contain important installations.

Data:
The 40 cm think walls of the tunnel comprise a total of 62,500 cement sections that have been bolted together.  From the sea bed to the top of the tunnel there is between 12 and 40 metros. At ist deepest point the tunnel is 75 meters below the surface of the sea. 

To get to Odense we had to travel though this tunnel, amazingly the ride was so smooth I could not really tell went though an underwater tunnel.  I really enjoyed spending time with C and I enjoyed looking at all the trains.

Thank you for all your love and support.