Nothing prepares you for what is in the collection at the Sveriges Järnvägsmuseum, the Swedish Railway Museum, let alone the overwhelming size and quality of it.
Five Beyer Peacock steam locomotives are here, one a 2-4-0 dating back to 1856 which is proudly described as the oldest working loco in ‘original condition’ in the world. Yes, there is the Fairy Queen in India, but little of it is original.
After travelling to Lapland to see the midnight freight from Kiruna behind the museum’s Nydqvist & Holm AB 0-10-0 No. R 976, as exclusively reported in Heritage Railway issue 296, the return overnight train travelled through Gävle on route to Stockholm. It was a short bus ride from the station to the museum for a prearranged visit; on arrival, the gates were shut and locked because the museum is closed to the public.
The local postman let me in – and such is the trust of the Swedes that there were no questions as to what I was doing there! Introductions made, museum director Robert Sjöö showed me round, describing the huge plans that exist for the future and the reasons for its closure over the last five years.
Inside the roundhouse used for the running locomotives, I was asked how
