O is a series of

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas ...

s used by

Swedish State Railways The Swedish State Railways ( sv, Statens Järnvägar) or SJ, originally the Royal Railway Board ( sv, Kungl. Järnvägsstyrelsen), was the former government agency responsible for operating the state-owned railways in Sweden. It was created i ...

( sv, Statens Järnvägar, SJ) for hauling heavy

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

trains on the

Iron Ore Line The Iron Ore Line ( sv, Malmbanan) is a long railway line between Riksgränsen and Boden in Norrbotten County, Sweden, owned by Trafikverket (the Swedish Transport Administration). The line also contains two branches, from Kiruna to Svappavaara ...

in Sweden. The type Oa locomotives were built by

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

and type Ob were built by

ASEA ''Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget'' (English translation: General Swedish Electrical Limited Company; Swedish abbreviation: ASEA) was a Swedish industrial company. History ASEA was founded in 1883 by Ludvig Fredholm in Västerås as ...

History

The O series was built for the first

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

railway in Sweden, Malmbanan. ASEA started testing out technology with a test unit in 1908, and by 1914 the first Oa locomotive was delivered, along with the passenger hauling Pa. At first it was the northern part of Malmbanan, from

Kiruna (; se, Giron ; fi, Kiiruna ) is the northernmost Stad (Sweden), city in Sweden, situated in the province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland. It had 17,002 inhabitants in 2016 and is the seat of Kiruna Municipality (population: 23,167 in 2016) in Norr ...

Narvik ( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest municipality in Nordland county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Narvik. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Ankenesstranda, Ball ...

that was electrified. The

steam locomotives A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

had been hauling 28 wagons at 10 km/h, but the new agreement signed in 1913 with

LKAB Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) is a government owned Swedish mining company. The company mines iron ore at Kiruna and at Malmberget in northern Sweden. The company was established in 1890, and has been 100% state-owned since the 1950s ...

meant that SJ had to haul 40 wagons at 30 km/h to transport enough ore. The solution lay in a joint production between

of Germany and ASEA. The Siemens locomotives were designated Oa while the ASEA locomotives were designated Ob. The trains had 1200 kW motors. These stayed in service on the northern section until 1923 when the southern section to

Luleå Luleå ( , , locally ; smj, Luleju; fi, Luulaja) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban core (2018) and is the seat of Lu ...

also was electrified, at which time they were moved to the southern section. A new series of Oe and Of locomotives were delivered. In the 1950s when larger trains were put into service, some of the Ofs were rebuilt to triple units, designated Of3. They were also supplemented with the new Dm-series that eventually replaced them. JvmKDAE08586

References

External links

Historisk.nu on Malmbanan
{{Swedish railway stock ASEA locomotives Siemens locomotives O 15 kV AC locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1914 Standard gauge locomotives of Sweden (1′C)+(C1′) locomotives