by GuestfromEU » August 27, 2018, 8:53 am
A bit of a side topic here, but I know some of us are also interested in railways and trains.
That ore concentrate is mined underground in Kiruna and Malmberget, Sweden, then shipped by rail to Narvik, Norway and Luleå, Sweden. This is in the far, deep north of Lapland. The electric locomotives that operate on the railway are some of the most powerful locomotives ever used in Europe. I believe each locomotive of the IORE class is 7,400 hp. The trains are not so long like Australia or the USA, but the powerful locomotives are needed to pass over the mountains separating the mines and loading port. The locomotives were built in Continental Europe, and shipped disassembled, as their weight was too heavy for European rails. Also interesting to note is these trains use North American style couplers, so no spring buffers are needed. This is because standard European couplers could not handle the weight of a loaded ore train.
The locomotives they replaced are also quite famous, the Swedish Dm3 class. Impressive machines to watch operating.
The Miniatur Wunderland museum in Hamburg, Germany has a section of this railway in HO scale. Very large, and set in the winter time, with snow as a major part of the scene. Quite fitting, as this is a majority of the year...
This part of Scandinavia is equivalent to the Missabe/Iron Range in MN, or the UP of Michigan. Very desolate, rough terrain, harsh weather, but also very beautiful scenery.
Here are pages to each locomotive noted above, and some other information about the mining and railways too.
http://www.4rail.net/reference_sweden_locos_el_dm3.php
http://www.4rail.net/reference_sweden_locos_el_iore.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LKAB
A bit of a side topic here, but I know some of us are also interested in railways and trains.
That ore concentrate is mined underground in Kiruna and Malmberget, Sweden, then shipped by rail to Narvik, Norway and Luleå, Sweden. This is in the far, deep north of Lapland. The electric locomotives that operate on the railway are some of the most powerful locomotives ever used in Europe. I believe each locomotive of the IORE class is 7,400 hp. The trains are not so long like Australia or the USA, but the powerful locomotives are needed to pass over the mountains separating the mines and loading port. The locomotives were built in Continental Europe, and shipped disassembled, as their weight was too heavy for European rails. Also interesting to note is these trains use North American style couplers, so no spring buffers are needed. This is because standard European couplers could not handle the weight of a loaded ore train.
The locomotives they replaced are also quite famous, the Swedish Dm3 class. Impressive machines to watch operating.
The Miniatur Wunderland museum in Hamburg, Germany has a section of this railway in HO scale. Very large, and set in the winter time, with snow as a major part of the scene. Quite fitting, as this is a majority of the year...
This part of Scandinavia is equivalent to the Missabe/Iron Range in MN, or the UP of Michigan. Very desolate, rough terrain, harsh weather, but also very beautiful scenery.
Here are pages to each locomotive noted above, and some other information about the mining and railways too.
http://www.4rail.net/reference_sweden_locos_el_dm3.php
http://www.4rail.net/reference_sweden_locos_el_iore.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LKAB