Gnosjö, Älvängen, Mellerud

When checking the railway map of Sweden, there are not many places left that I haven't visited. This weekend I decided to visit "kust till kust" banan and Gnosjö station along this line. Unfortunately, the trains on "kust till kust banan" coast to coast railway are not frequent on Saturdays. There are two trains in the morning, and then nothing until later in the evening. In order to catch these two morning trains, I had to go the day before and stay the night in Växjö. 

So, on Friday evening I'm stepping into Stockholm Central and having a beer shortly before the departure of my train.

 The bar at the station is showing Russian ice hockey

 Stockholm C on Friday evening

 I'm taking train 505, which is a non-stop train until Alvesta, where I'm going

 X2 train from Stockholm C

Leaving Stockholm C

This non-stop train is passing by Södertälje

 If purchasing the ticket shortly before departure, one can expect to pay a much higher price than when buying in advance.

 For this price, you may see out of order rest rooms

 A beer from the bistro on board. It is funny because Mellerud is a place I will visit during this trip.

Björnlunda

At Mjölby, I can spot an X61 train

 Passengers are occupied with their gadgets

 Arriving at Alvesta.

 X11 3170

There is still much activity here at Södra stambanan (Southern main line) late in the evening

Northbound freight train

Alvesta

From Alvesta, I'm taking this X14 3233 Krösatåg to Växjö

Gemla

Krösatåg system is a cooperation between regions of Jönköping, Kalmar, Kronoberg, Halland, Skåne, and Blekinge. They all have their own ticket systems, and this announcement is saying that when travelling in Kalmar, Kronoberg and Skåne - the ticket has to be purchased before boarding the train.

Same train at Växjö

Växjö Cathedral and the construction of new "resecentrum" - a transport hub for busses and trains

X31 train at Växjö

Next day starts with a breakfast at the hotel

Växjö stadshotell from 1840

The new "resecentrum" (travel hub) will open in 2021, until then the area around the station is under construction

The old railway house

At Växjö there is a coupling of two X31 trains sets, one was arriving from Kalmar

After a short trip I'm in Alvesta

X2 train arriving from Malmö

This time of the day I can spot trains that I would usually don't see if I would arrive from Stockholm later during the day, here is train 41131 from Katrineholm to Malmö

This train operated by Hector Rail will also continue to Denmark and Germany after reaching Malmö

241 011 "C-3PO" Traxx F140 AC2

Train 9457 from Göteborg Sävenäs to Älmhult is arriving from "Kust till kust" railway

The train will switch direction here in Alvesta before continuing to Älmhult

Rc4 1268

X11 3175 to Hässleholm

Train 5911 from Gävle to Malmö

Rc4 1301

New locomotive driver is arriving

Train 9757 from Falköping to Karlshamn

Rd2 1094

Finally, my first SJ Regional train is arriving to Alvesta

Rc6 1338

My train is leaving Alvesta together with this X2 train to Malmö. Train 322 from Kalmar to Göteborg is delayed, otherwise I would almost make it with this first X2 train from Stockholm if I would arrive the same day.

Passing by Hjortsberga

Rydaholm

Horda

Bor

Arriving to Värnamo where "kust till kust" railway meets "Halmstad-Nässjö" railway

X11 3107

Rd2 1104 and X14 3230

Between Värnamo and Hillerstorp the railway is passing through Store Mosse National park

Hillerstorp

My train has arrived to Gnosjö, which was my goal for this trip

The station operates only by this non frequent SJ Regional train between Kalmar and Göteborg

As the line do not permit high speeds, the train is of type locomotive and coaches with maximum speed 160km/h. A typical train composition is AB7, B7, BF7, and B7F cars

I have two hours to explore Gnosjö

Apparently there were direct trains to Karlskrona here before

Gnosjö station is a typical wooden station along the line, with many decorations.

It is 10 AM and there are only 2 more trains this day in each direction

The station has today a Thai food shop

Busses from the station to Värnamo and Smålandsstenar

Not so warm today

A "fika" in local cafe

Second hand shop

Fishing license ticket machine

Mat kiosken is a local shop without any personnel

The door is opened with credit card, and there are cameras monitoring the customers

After scanning and paying the customer can leave the shop

"Don't forget to pay"

Gnosjö station was built in 1901

The train from Göteborg is arriving. According to the schedule both trains from Göteborg and Kalmar should meet here at this time, but my train is delayed

Rc6 1406

This train has following coach composition: B7, BF7, B7, AB7

Now, it is time for my next train

Rc6 1347

Vikaresjön

Hestra

Grimsås

Limmared

Länghem

Hillared

Aplared

Before reaching Borås, there some sharp curves on this line which means reduced speed

Målsryd

Gånghester station was once a junction for the railways to Ulricehamn and Värnamo

Arriving to Borås

X12 3218

Borås

The train now continues on the last part between Borås and Göteborg. According to the latest plans from the Swedish government, this part will be replaced by a high speed line reducing the travel time from 1h to 20-30min.

Sandared

SJ Regional do not make any further stops between Borås and Göteborg, however there are a few Västtåg trains operating the line with several stops.

Viaredssjön

One of the most beautiful stations along this line is Hultafors built in 1909

Bollebygd

Rävlanda

Hindås

Landvetter lake

Långenäs

Mölnycke

The train is approaching Göteborg

"Kust till kust" railways meets "Västkustbanan" here near Göteborg

E6 highway

My train has arrived to Göteborg

At the station I can spot X55 with "Åre 2019" livery

The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2019 were held from 4 to 17 February 2019 in Åre, Sweden.

What is remarkable here is that this livery is covering all windows and doors - which in my opinion is not the best idea

My next train will be this X61

After a short ride I'm in Älvängen

Älvängen is the terminal for the Västtrafik pendeltåg on this line, the tracks to the right are for the through trains to Trollhättan and Vänersborg

Väner/Norge-banan railway is used for both passenger and freight trains

Rd2 1035

X52 9074 is my next train from Älvängen to Trollhättan

Trollhättan station

X52E 9078 operated by SJ

Öxnered

Brålanda

My next stop is in Mellerud

The old railway hotel

Mellerud station is a typical building along the Bergslagsbanan (now this part is called Vänerbanan). The other identical stations can be found in Åmål, Trollhättan, Öxnered.

Some maintenance vehicles are parked here in Mellerud

Green light

Train 9010 from Göteborg Sävenäs to Karlstad

Rd2 1124 and Rc4 1281

This freight trains has Stora Enso intermodal containers which are bigger than the standard container

Not much raining here

Santa Claus museum

The old roundhouse

3 trains left today (one of which is replaced with bus)

Waiting hall

In order to open the toilet at the station it is required to pay with the telephone and open the door with an sms text message

My next train is a Tågab

Rc3 1041

A compartment inside AB3 coach

Köpmannebro

Åmål

Another train in Säffle

Train 9010 that I saw earlier in Mellerud is now in Säffle too

Tågab Rc2 007 in Grums

Vectron from Hectorrail in Kil

Tågab train has arrived to Karlstad

My last would be this SJ Intercity from Oslo

Unfortunately my trip was interrupted here in Flen. As we were told, there was a maintenance work ahead on the railway that started before the last 2 trains could pass, and apparently due to bad communication between the track operator and the railway companies these 2 trains were missed in communication.

My SJ Intercity at Flen station

The other train was a Snälltåget night train to Åre, seen here on the other side

Since the other train was a night train, most people were probably already sleeping as it was late

A passenger from the night train was smoking at the platform and said hi to me

After 2 hours stop, both train could finally continue to Stockholm C