Qualla: Light Railway of the Ryttaren Peat Factory

Light Railway of the Ryttaren Peat Factory: Introduction

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ida Dicksson, CC BY-SA 4.0. Engineer Mans Hartelius had a problem. The electric locomotive at his family's peat factory could not haul loads the full distance from the remote Ljunghem and Ekelund bogs. So in 1954, he designed a solution: a custom-built locomotive with a diesel-electric hybrid drivetrain, individual wheel suspension, and chain-driven axles. Working for Volvo in Gothenburg on military vehicle development by day, he applied the same engineering rigor to this tiny 600mm gauge railway threading through the Swedish wetlands. Today, the Harteliusloket locomotive and the entire factory complex stand protected as an industrial monument, one of Sweden's best-preserved examples of peat industry heritage.

Image: Ida Dicksson | CC BY-SA 4.0

Light Railway of the Ryttaren Peat Factory: From Bog to Bale

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ida Dicksson, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Ryttaren Peat Factory came to life in the spring of 1906, built by agricultural scientist Nils Hartelius beside the railway line between Falkoping and Nassjo. The location was strategic: the Ryttaren moor held vast deposits of peat, and the mainline railway offered immediate ...

Image: Ida Dicksson | CC BY-SA 4.0

Light Railway of the Ryttaren Peat Factory: Tracks Across the Moor

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ida Dicksson, CC BY-SA 4.0. The light railway grew with the factory's appetite for peat. The first line stretched northeast from the factory buildings, branching into parallel tracks to reach the northern bog. By 1947, the original 5 kg/m rails had been replaced with heavier 7 kg/m track, reflecting the inc...

Image: Ida Dicksson | CC BY-SA 4.0

Light Railway of the Ryttaren Peat Factory: The Engineer's Solution

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ida Dicksson, CC BY-SA 4.0. When Hasselfors Bruks AB purchased the factory in 1964 to produce horticultural peat, they found a railway system unlike any other. The crown jewel was the Harteliusloket, Mans Hartelius's 1954 creation. Its steel-frame chassis rode on individual wheel suspension that tracked the...

Image: Ida Dicksson | CC BY-SA 4.0

Light Railway of the Ryttaren Peat Factory: A Railway Preserved

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ida Dicksson, CC BY-SA 4.0. Peat cutting at Ljunghemsmossen ended in 1995, and production ceased entirely in 1997, closing a chapter that had begun nearly a century earlier. But the story did not end there. In 2012, Swedish authorities recognized the factory and its railway as a Byggnadsminne, an industrial...

Image: Ida Dicksson | CC BY-SA 4.0