The layout was been "backdated" during 2001 to present a more authentic 1930's appearance

The layout was sold to Adrian Allum during 2003. A new layout called Småtorp will be built during
2003/2004  to replace it, this layout will be more pure HNJ in form and will avoid most of the
problems that irritated on Steninge.

More images can be found on the photo page

Steninge

A Swedish Secondary line station set in the period 1930 - 1987.

Why 1930 - 1987?, because many secondary lines didn't really change until the late 1980's when the traditional railbus was replaced by modern Fiat DMUs and many were closed due to short term bus subsidies.

The layout was developed to provide a small layout for my collection of stock. Originally the intention was to have a tail chaser but problems in fitting the return loops into a reasonable area caused a re-think and so the current terminus to fiddle yard design evolved.

As the design of the layout still has traces of the original layout, the two station boards have been incorporated into the new design, a degree of historical and geographical justification was needed. This has been achieved by changing the geography of western Halland by creating a peninsula and large mountain between Halmstad & Falkenberg.

The actual design is based upon Anderstorp on the former Halmstad & Nässjö Railway with a quayside area based on typical local practice.

Swedish Railways were generally developed by the state constructing the main lines and private companies constructing branch lines. Nationalization began early and was completed effectively by 1950. The nature of the country with a small scattered population encouraged the use of railbusses from 1912 with lightweight machines coming into service by 1937.

Local History

When the railway came to Halland the main line came down the coast from Gothenburg to Malmö. The main line inland was the Halmstad Nässjö Railway (HNJ). Secondary lines ran inland from Falkenberg and Varberg. This left the Västra Hamn peninsula and Västra Åsen mountain without a line. The result was the Westra Hallands Järnväg (WHJ) running from the main line at Harplinge to Våstra Hamn with a branch to the mountain via Steninge. The line up the mountain proved uneconomic and difficult to maintain and was cut back to the small port of Steninge from which a bus service runs up the mountain. The fictional history concludes with nationalization in the forties and closure in 1987, when subsidies encouraged the replacement of many secondary lines with bus services.

Construction.

The layout is built on three 3' by 18" boards with the fiddle yard on a 4' by 18" board. This gives a reasonable run-round loop of about 4'. and several medium length sidings. The boards are made of conti board with a 2"x1" frame work . Track is Peco code 100and a mixture of Peco and Seep point motors are used. Wiring being as simple as possible. Recently a high frequency track cleaner by Gaugemaster has been fitted as has a hand held controller built by a fellow member of the Colchester & District Model Railway Club.

Scenery

Buildings are from a variety of sources and are designed to be typical of Southern Sweden. They mainly come from the Heljan and Euromod ranges. The tall "T" semaphore is constructed from various parts available in the UK provided by Ratio and Model Signal Engineering. Ballast is sand as was typical of this type of line throughout Sweden, and a large number of trees have been planted from a variety of sources.

Stock

The locomotive stock generally in use is either modified proprietary or scratch built.

Litt Axelföld Description

K 0-6-0T     A rebuilt Jouef "Boer" tank as suggested in an old Swedish modelling magazine.

N 0-8-0T     A Jouef tank rebuilt to represent a typical heavy shunter.

S 2-6-2T     A Piko BR64 rebuilt to represent the standard SJ passenger tank.

Z 0-4-0D     The earliest type of SJ petrol, kerosene etc shunter used from 1928.A Kay's kit
                    on a spud and full of lead, it hauls far too much for the prototype but looks cute!

Z49 0-4-0D A later type from the same manufacturer and used for local freight, shunting and even
                     passenger services! It is scratch built on a Bachmann chassis.

Z65 0-4-0D A 1960's design still much used today. The loco is a Hornby body on a spud.
                     (Hornby in the late 1960's produced a train set with a very good model of this
                     particular Swedish locomotive! A second loco in 1960's livery has now been
                     added and cost £36 of which £35.70 was to do with powering it!

T43 B-B       A Lima model of doubtful utility of the 1960's standard road diesel, I now have another
                     2 of these locos and have found if you weight them enough they are capable of acting
                     as passenger locos. For shunting they need to be re-powered with a better mechanism.

T42 B-B       A rebuilt Fratschi G12 representing the demonstrator purchased by SJ in the 50's and
                     used in the far north. The original is now preserved in original demonstrator livery in
                     Norway.

Kolgasvagn The HNJ among other lines in the late 1920's experimented with charcoal gas powered
                     railcars. This version was an old coach rebuilt with a central power bogie and gas
                     generation equipment on top. The experiment proved unsuccessful as diesel powered
                     units of the period could easily do 80,000 Km per year against 15,000 that the gas unit
                     achieved. It was scrapped in 1938 The model is scratchbuilt on a Piko chassis.

Y6 DMU     The 1950's standard round ended railbus as modelled by Jeco. I now have a total of 3
                    motor units though only 2 are powered and a couple of trailers.

Yo1s DMU  The HNJ purchased a number of the classic Hilding Carlson railbusses in the thirties,
                     this particular version only appeared after the HNJ was nationalised but is similar to
                     designs actually purchased and is in full HNJ red and black livery. It is constructed
                     from a Rimbo Grande etched brass kit

Ka    0-6-0   This loco represents a typical small tender locomotive of British design as purchased
                     by many Swedish railways in the Nineteenth Century. It is a re-built Lima 4F with a
                     spud powered tender

Coaching stock is provided by four wheelers of early twentieth century design or 1950's bogie stock.

Wagons are a mixture of proprietary, kit built and scratchbuilt and represents typical stock of the
period. The most interesting vehicle being a 1920's charcoal wagon by Rimbo Grande.

The Track Plan

Front of layout

Below are the layout's exhibition programme notes:

Based on Anderstorp station on the former Halmstad Nässjö Railway in southern Sweden, Steninge is an attempt to show a typical example of branch line practice in the late 1930's.

Steninge was originally a through station on a minor line serving a small harbour. For economic reasons the former through line has been truncated here and only a short remnant survives as a head-shunt. Facilities at the station consist of a goods shed, gravel loader and a quay. The "T" semaphore that controlled access to the station from both directions still survives in use, the scrub grown track bed running away from the end of the head-shunt. Various " wildlife " can be found on the layout including a Moose, rabbit and cats and dogs.